


Doll

by AllocateAloe, dirtyskellylover



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2018-12-25 21:27:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12044619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllocateAloe/pseuds/AllocateAloe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirtyskellylover/pseuds/dirtyskellylover
Summary: Put in the Undertale fandom, because despite how far we've traveled from our original destination, there are still some ties to that universe. It would be more accurate to say this takes place in The Sin Mansion universe, and it will be helpful to read that, as well as Into the Fire, if you want background on Voidster.Doll is a new character, and this is her story. Her rescue, her life, and possibly her death. I don't know how the story will end, but I intend for the journey to be vividly emotional, exploring dark themes such as abuse of the mentally ill, stockholm syndrome, brain damage, and sometimes unwilling dominance/submission.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Sin Mansion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6833458) by [AllocateAloe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllocateAloe/pseuds/AllocateAloe), [dirtyskellylover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirtyskellylover/pseuds/dirtyskellylover). 



  
The distant strains of  _Ave Maria_  filtered into my cell, and a faint smile touched my lips. Sure enough, the screaming began soon after. The others didn’t understand; not the way that I did. Then again, it was perhaps my understanding of things that led to the circumstances the Angel had rescued me from.  
  


When the doctors ask you, “Why did you carve the razor into your skin? Why did you dance naked in the freezing rain? What do the voices say to you?” the true answer is never the correct one. I learned that at a young age. I was only slightly older when my mother, weeping, turned her face away, leaving my frail wrist in the unsympathetic grasp of one of the nurses.  
  


In truth, I hardly remembered my life from before. It’s a gift, although some might label it a curse. I only knew that the scars, the pain, the fear, would not have come from a place of kindness. When others asked me of my life “before,” I had no answer for them. What use are words when nobody is listening?  
  


The small, barred window in my room; this one tender mercy I was given, let the light of the full moon spill across my narrow cot. The blankets were thin, and the pillows hardly more than blankets. I preferred to watch the slow stripes of moonlight stalk across the floor, like a tiger prowling through the forest.  
  


Never will I forget the moment that my Angel first appeared, his coat like dark wings fluttering quietly around his broad-shouldered form. His shadow blocked out the moon, and I slowly raised my eyes to his. In wonder, I beheld the violet hue of his irises, catlike pupils in a pale, ethereal face. Slowly, I rose from my bed, clad only in the thin linen robes they afforded us there.  
  


He was of such great stature that his head nearly brushed the ceiling. I approached him slowly, in reverence and respect. He showed no fear at my advance, and even seemed to lean toward me, slowly extending a large, white hand. The center of his palm was missing, and the tips of his fingers hid catlike claws that slid from their sheaths in a glorious display. Gently, I placed the tips of my fingers in his hand, and he tilted his head, considering.  
  


**[Do you wish to come with me, pet? I had not considered a particular human when I arrived here, and yet your soul is yearning toward me. How...unusual.]  
  
**

“Please,” I whispered, curling my hand around his, feeling his strong fingers close around mine. When he drew me gently toward him, my heart soared like a bird in flight. His scent was spiced and masculine, and I sensed in him the same wildness the doctors sought to tame in me. This violence, this agony, this beauty, that yearned to break free. I had wanted nothing more fiercely in my life, and I found myself suddenly clinging to him, pressing my body to his, pressing my face against his ribs.  
  


He chuckled so faintly that even I barely heard it, and then absently reached his free hand upward to ruffle my hair.  **[Very well. Hold on tightly. The journey is not long, but dangerous, still.]  
  
**

“Yes,” I murmured, gladly wrapping my arms around him. The heat of his body radiated outward, his strong arm tucking me firmly against his muscular side. I could have remained in his embrace forever, but soon the room around me disappeared, an infinite coldness that stole my breath away, and then we were somewhere else. A sterile, gray room.  
  


There was a bed, white and plush-looking. A small sink with a mirror above it. And that was all. There were no windows, only walls painted a soft white, with a metal door that had a glass viewing panel in it. Reluctantly, I released my rescuer, walking slowly over to the bed to press my palm against the pillow, looking at him questioningly.  
  


“Is this my new home?”  
  


 **[It is.]**  He seemed pleased, and I was glad, for nothing seemed so important but that I please him. I could see him more clearly here than in the shadows of my old room, and I saw he wore a shirt the color of fresh blood, dark slacks that were clean but wrinkled. His feet were bare, and I knelt before him, tentatively running my fingertips over the bestial, clawed toes that peeked out from beneath the fabric. His hide was soft and leathery, tough and pliant. I glanced up to see him watching me, his face set in a thoughtful mien.  
  


Gently, he bent at the waist, reaching downward and lifting me onto the bed. I felt the pads of his fingers against the sticky bandages around my head, and flinched, despite myself. “I’m sorry,” I whimpered, embarrassed of my misbehavior, but he said nothing. My head was shaven. It was only vanity, but I felt so ashamed that he should see me like this. This flawless, Angelic presence, carefully unwinding the filthy linen wraps until they lay in a crumpled, bloody pile on the floor.  
  


Then he grasped the crude hospital gown I wore, lifting it above my head, and I was truly naked before him, with not even my hair to hide me from his gaze. Like a shorn sheep, bare and tragic. Surely he would discard me after seeing me like this. I could hold no value for a being so perfect and complex.  
  


He took my hand, and led me out of the room. I was unsteady on my feet, but he was patient, walking slowly as he observed my progress. Our destination was a large bathroom, and he took the opportunity to tell me,  **[Subjects such are yourself are brought here three times each day, that you might avail yourself of the facilities. You will be washed now, and whenever an experiment requires it, or you become otherwise unclean.]  
  
**

Unclean...the thought wandered through my head. I was...unclean. As he turned the knobs on the shower, and steaming water sprung forth, I realized that this was like a baptism. An Angel had plucked me from the depths of that hellish hospital, and now I would be made clean, worthy of his presence, worthy of living here with others who had been chosen. He held out an enormous, clawed hand to steady me as I stepped into the shower, and guided my hands to hold on to the railing before me so that I did not fall.  
  


I trembled to realize that he meant to wash me with his own hands. Such intimate care, to be touched by one such as him…  
  


At the old hospital, the nurses had scrubbed me down with brutal efficiency, rinsing me with tepid water and roughly drying me, using care only near my face, where the ugly crescent wound might bleed if touched ungently. I stole another glance at the man who had taken me, and saw his violet eyes distant, lost in thought as he unwrapped a fresh bar of soap.  
  


He was sensual, but not sexual, at first. He carefully worked the lather over the fine stubble of my hair, washing the surgical wound with gentle expertise. I closed my eyes as he let the suds wash over my face and throat, before rinsing. The barest tinge of rust stained the water as it rushed down my face.  
  


When he moved down to my arms and breasts, I leaned into his touch. I couldn’t help myself. I had craved a gentle hand for so long, and he was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. His thumbs delicately brushed my nipples, the soap sliding down my torso to my ribs. The scent was herbal, like bitter, medicinal flowers. I felt the barest touch of his sheathed claws against my belly, and blushed, my legs spreading subconsciously to allow him better access to every part of me. Even my womanhood was shorn, simply to make me easier to clean, as if I were a toy to be washed and placed on a shelf.  
  


His knuckled fingers slid sensually between my legs, and I shuddered, clinging onto the rail for dear life as he used only water and my own arousal to bring me to a skillful, shuddering climax. He held me up with his hand between my legs alone, his other gripping gently around my throat as moans and whimpers of pleasure rolled through me. I didn’t know why he had done this, and I didn’t ask. In a way, after the surgery, I had stopped caring about such things as  _why_.  
  


Once I was clean, he carefully dried me with a plush towel, and again I saw the dark stains after he blotted my forehead, nearly the same color as his shirt, with its sleeves rolled up. “Am I dying?” I asked softly, meeting his eyes seriously as his lips quirked.  
  


**[Why, my pet? Do you feel as if you are dying?]  
  
**

“Sometimes…” I sighed, letting him wrap me in the towel and carry me back to the room. He laid me on the bed. It was soft, so much softer than what I was used to. I felt easeful and warm. Returning, he brought with him a small medical kit.  
  


**[Tell me, little human. Do you remember why the other humans operated on your brain?]  
  
**

I frowned, shifting my gaze away. Something bad...screaming. I looked at the mirror and it exploded into shards of glass, slashing my face and arms. Trembling, I opened my eyes, and saw that I was unharmed, and the mirror remained exactly as it had been; whole and intact. Unlike myself.  
  


“Do you...know?” I asked him, shivering as he applied something wet to the stitches on my head. He was silent for a moment, adding a thick layer of pristine gauze, and wrapping it carefully with fresh bandages. When he had finished, he set the medical kit aside, and looked at me seriously.  
  


**[You want to get better, don’t you, darling? These frightening visions, the wound on your head, they upset you. You want to be good, and loved. You want to please me.]  
  
**

“Yes,” I gasped, tears standing in my eyes as he named without effort every desire that had plagued me since before I could remember. “I’ll do anything, I swear it. Please never leave me.” There was a brief pause as he slid a new hospital gown over my head. This one of softer, kinder fabric than the other. I could not fathom what I had done to be so lucky.  
  


Gently, he pushed me down across the bed, pulling the blanket up over my freshly bathed body.  **[Sometimes I may ask things of you that are frightening, pet. Things that are painful, things you don’t understand. Trust in me and my will. Do everything that I ask, and you will please me greatly.]  
  
**

 **[Already, I am pleased,]**  he added, with a gentle caress of my cheek.  **[Sleep now, my precious, porcelain doll. I will see you in the morning.]  
  
**

He paused as I gripped his large, clawed hand in both of mine. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you.”  
  



	2. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doll wakes up, and meets G.

  
He watched her sleep for some time. She slept deeply and easily; the sleep of small children and animals, and he knew why, too. She was untroubled by the complexities and pain of daily life. The healing cut on her head was in a very particular location. The little doll had been lobotomized; a procedure that was already exceedingly rare in this age. He wondered what had been so troubling about her that the only solution for it had been extreme brain surgery, and he pondered ways to get the answers he sought.  
 **  
**

He would have to proceed…delicately. She was already perfectly broken; a shard of glass that fit like a glove into the jagged and complex configuration of his life. If he pushed her too hard, if he was not cautious, the damage could spread in undesirable ways. And yet if he proceeded with talent and inspiration- what a magnificent creature she could be! Her natural attachment to him was at once endearing and useful. It would be easy to nurture those feelings, to guide her as a gardener carefully prunes a rose.  
  


Hands clasped behind his back, lost in his thoughts, he did not even notice the slow, careful approach of the lich.  
  


“Back so soon?” his mate inquired mildly, and Voidster felt himself stiffen, a possessive tug at his heart as he turned to face G.  
  


 **[I found a suitable subject,]**  he began, watching G’s face carefully.  **[I have plans for this one. I ask that you not intervene. In any way.]**  He saw the surprise, replaced by swift suspicion, and then calculated boredom on the lich’s face.  
  


“If you wish…” G replied, his tone deceptively bored as he stepped nearer, and glanced over Voidster’s shoulder at the sleeping girl. “What is so intriguing about this one? It is rare that we work with souls of Integrity, but hers is so faded there’s barely anything to use.” Her arm was curled protectively over her face, and he did not see the bandages, only that her head was shaven.  
  


 **[It is nothing of import,]**  Voidster returned, stepping away from the door and folding his arms.  **[Merely a pet project of mine. Some potential I had seen for new techniques I wished to try.]** He was nearly as skilled as G at dissembling, but not quite. The lich saw the possessiveness that drove his mate, the budding of something like obsession within his determined soul. Unusual, and concerning. He would have to watch this new test subject, and his mate, very carefully.  
  


“Make sure you catalogue her,” he said offhandedly, gesturing at the office they used down here for notes. “She needs a file…a full body examination…photographs…” He paused after each of these items, watching as the beast before him tensed ever so slightly. “It is customary for both of us to examine the subject, but if you wish to perform the procedure alone, that is acceptable.”  
  


It was a test, and Voidster knew it. His pupils dilated, his jaw slightly clenched. He couldn’t refuse, not without arousing significant suspicion.  **[You are welcome to participate in the examination. Your handwriting is better than mine, and you may notice things that I do not. I had planned on taking care of it tomorrow morning.]  
  
**

“I’ll look forward to it,” G murmured, turning away to hide his interested smirk. He never thought he’d see the day that Voidster became protective of a test subject, let alone one that he had barely captured. Love at first sight? Was his mate even capable of loving a human? He would find out soon enough. Tomorrow morning would be very, very interesting.  
  


***  
  


I woke up after some time. I couldn’t tell whether it was daybreak or night without my window. That was strange. The screaming, however, was familiar. I wondered if I would see my Angel again. He had promised that he would come back, and I didn’t think that Angels could break promises. And yet what had I done to be worthy of his attention? I still didn’t know.  
  


Sitting up, I let the clean white blanket pool around my body, delicately exploring the new bandages around my head. My hair was stiff and short but softening, almost like the fur of an animal now. With further length, perhaps I would become more human. I hesitated, then gently cupped the hair between my legs as well. He had shown me pleasure, last night. I had never known such things. Perhaps it was a gift that Angels bestowed on favored mortals. And yet when I gently pressed my fingers against this damp heat, those feelings rose again, without his presence.  
  


Giddy with the secret of this new power, I removed my hand, clasping them both modestly in my lap as I glanced around. There was a chain above the mirror, shining in the dim light that bled in from the hallway. I stood, reaching upward and tugging it slowly downward. With a sudden click, brilliant, painful light flooded the room, and I gasped, clasping my hands over my eyes and falling to the floor. Spots of color danced in my vision, and behind my closed lids I heard the door of my room open. The gentle click of claws approached, and I saw the feet of my beloved, beautiful Master.  
  


He crouched beside me, placing a clawed hand gently on my shoulder.  **[Is the light painful to you, little one?]  
  
**

I tried to nod, but the motion made my head ache, and so I settled for a softly murmured affirmation. “Too bright,” I muttered, still cupping my hands around my face. I sensed the light dimming, and slowly uncovered my eyes, glancing upward. He gazed down at me, gesturing at the chain.  
  


 **[If you pull twice, the light will not be so powerful.]**  Ah, what a useful thing to know. He was truly so kind, I wondered how I would ever repay my debt to him. I vowed that whatever he asked of me, I would do it without complaint, even if I was frightened or it hurt.  
  


He then turned away from me, and I heard the entry of a second set of claws. He spoke again, to this newcomer, but I could not understand the words. It was as if he was speaking another language entirely, yet the sounds were so familiar! Over time I had grown accustomed to parts of myself being broken. Was this another shard of understanding that I could no longer possess? A tear ran down my cheek, and the other man jerked his head sharply toward me, catching the attention of my Angel.  
  


 **[Why are you crying?]**  He sounded annoyed, agitated, and yet I sensed it was not at myself this emotion was directed. For some reason, the presence of the other male made him angry.  
  


I stuttered, unsure of myself. “Y-you were talking, but I could not understand the words. They sounded real, but they weren’t, a-and I was afraid I had lost them.”  
  


He stared at me for a long moment, then glanced at the other man, who met him with a flat expression. He made an inquiry, and the man, who looked somewhat like him, but with a hideous scar across his torso, met my eyes. He said nothing, and then my Master spoke again, more sharply.  
  


“Human, do you understand me?” the stranger inquired, in a flat, monotonous voice. I glanced between both men, uncertain what to do. He had asked me a question, but I feared him. There was loathing in him, impatience and irritation, and these were directed at me. He resented my presence.  
  


My Angel took my chin in his hand and tilted my face toward his own, momentarily blocking my view of the dour man in the doorway.  **[Did you understand him?]**  he asked seriously, raising a brow.  
  


“Yes,” I said, confused. Already the previous moments of garbled speech were a blur in my mind, blending with the true words until I was uncertain if I had understood anything at all. Perhaps I was merely imagining their words. Frightened, I grabbed onto the wrist of the gentle one who crouched near me, holding on to the strong limb as if I might be swept away by the current of my own thoughts.  
  


 **[There is no easy way to explain this,]**  his deep voice mused, taking me by the shoulders and setting me back on my heels on the floor.  **[You can understand us only when we speak directly to you, it seems. It is through no fault of your own. When he and I speak to one another, you will not understand. You must remain calm.]  
  
**

I didn’t miss the careful glare the other man cast in his direction, folding his arms and raising his brows. Lowering my voice, I asked in a whisper, “Can he understand me?”  
  


 **[He-]  
**  
  
Before he could answer my inquiry, my thoughts skipped ahead to my true question. “Why is he not kind and gentle, as you are?”  
  


The man in the doorway gave a disgusted snort, muttering something irritated at the one who had saved me. He gestured impatiently at the bed, but the Angel was not looking at him. He had a pained expression on his face, as though he wished to speak, but the words were caught in his throat. His fangs dug into his knuckles, and I watched in wonder as tiny trickles of crimson dripped from his fist.  
  
  
“Why are you biting your hand?” I asked, confused. He snorted, covering his face with his other hand, and then the other man sighed, walking nearer and taking my arm, none-too-gently pulling me up onto the bed. At this, my protector sobered, glaring up at the frightening man, who returned his look with flat composure.  
  


***  
  


“I’m glad you find this so amusing,” G spat at his mate, while the human girl looked on in puzzlement, “But this clearly damaged creature you’ve brought back to my home hardly seems to be a useful specimen. Let’s examine her so that you can get to work and dispose of the body. She’s a waste of resources.”  
  


Voidster released his hand, not bothering to hide the dark chuckle and smug grin he had tried to stifle earlier.  **[G, you must learn to be kind and gentle, lest you frighten the delicate test subjects. See how well she responds to my manner?]  
  
**

His mate rolled his eyes, pushing the girl so that she lay flat on her back on the bed, not bothering to instruct her. A simple-minded creature like this didn’t need words wasted on it. “If she had any sense at all, she would have run screaming the moment she saw you,” he muttered, roughly undoing the ribbons that held the gown laced together. The human had begun to tremble, and it made him all the more irritated, his movements harsh and impatient.  
  


 **[Enough.]**  Voidster grabbed his wrist, surprising the lich as he halted his movements.  **[Whatever the reason, the girl fears you…and not me. You take the notes, I will perform the examination.]  
  
**

G stared after his mate, his mouth a thin line of disapproval. Since when had Voidster cared if the test subjects were afraid, or in discomfort? Something about this was wrong, all wrong, and it bothered him deeply. Still, it was pointless to argue over such a routine procedure. With ill grace, he gathered the clipboard and pen, taking a seat in the chair he had brought with him as Voidster finished undoing the gown.  
  


It was surreal, to watch how she quieted beneath his touch, like a wild animal tamed. Every other human they had ever encountered feared his mate. Hated him. Avoided him, fled from him. And yet this one, this damaged, confused girl, yearned toward his touch with such trust and affection it was as if she…loved him. That in itself was confusing enough, but the true enigma was why Voidster seemed to care for her in return.  
  


Sighing, he tapped the clipboard with his pen. “Physical appearance.”  
  


 **[Medium height for a human female. 5’8”? Brown hair, shorn. Eyes-]**  Here he paused, gently lifting a lid and peering into her face. He repeated the motion with the other eye, a puzzled expression on his face.  
  


“Eyes? What?” G asked with an annoyed sigh, about to stand and see for himself.  
  


 **[Eyes…dilated. Permanently,]**  Voidster finally said, his voice thoughtful.  **[Explains the sensitivity to light, likely a result of the surgery. Indeterminate color.]**  He absently stroked a clawed hand down her cheek, and G stared. What was  _wrong_  with him?  
  


“Continue,” he said, a bit more sharply than he had intended. Glancing up at him, Voidster narrowed his eyes, and proceeded.  **[An adult female. Age undetermined. Sexually mature. Large incision on the right temple. Closed with staples, cleaned and bandaged when the subject was brought in. Apparent result of a recent lobotomy.]  
  
**

He opened her mouth, glancing over her teeth, then turned her face from side to side, examining her jaw and neck. He drew his fingers down her throat and ribs, palpating the flesh as he went, then caressing her thighs and soft pink folds between them. He inserted a clawed digit, raising a brow at the trembling gasp she emitted as he felt for abnormalities. He frowned, withdrew, then tried again. That couldn’t be right.  
  


“Having fun?” G asked sarcastically, folding his arms and watching with a raised brow.  
  


 **[She’s a virgin,]**  Voidster said abruptly, sounding as surprised as G felt when he heard it.  
  


A physically mature, mentally vulnerable female like this had little to no chance of escaping sexual encounters. Human men could be just as predatory as monsters, and G knew well the temptation of an untouched flower, that delicate tissue waiting to be pierced, the virginal blood spilled like sacrificial wine. The very thought made his mouth water, and he swallowed harshly, his voice rough as he asked, “You’re certain?”  
  
  
His mate gave him a sharp look, as aware of G’s proclivities as the lich was himself. **[And will remain that way until I decide otherwise. This is my test subject, and such an…encounter…could lead to unforeseen changes in her mental state.]  
  
**

G snorted derisively. They’d see about that. As far as he was concerned, the girl was disposable. There was nothing special or unique about her, save her troubling brain damage. Voidster may be temporarily enamored with a human that didn’t fear him, but his new toys never lasted long. And if he chose not to indulge in the girl’s one valuable asset, there was no reason for G not to enjoy it.  
  



	3. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doll escapes, and meets Spot.

The girl sat quietly on the bed, hands clasped in front of her, staring at nothing. G stood outside her door, his chin propped on his fist as he watched her. She ate what she was given, accepted tests and medications without resistance, and, for some reason, adored Voidster. It had gotten to the point that even the lich was begrudgingly intrigued, although he would never indicate such to his mate.  
**  
**

In many ways, the other test subjects were all the same. Fear or anger were their default responses. Not a day went by that they didn’t beg to be released, to go home, although eventually every one of them lost hope, or died.  


“Doll” was something different. Her stillness was not despair; she was simply lost in her thoughts, whatever those might be. She seemed entirely content to spend hours at a time in the stillness of her room, with no interaction, no stimulation, nothing at all to occupy her. It was…unnerving.  


G was not as fascinated with human anatomy as Voidster, but he knew it well enough. He knew that the procedure Doll had undergone had left her damaged, different, and that it had a wide variety of impacts on every human that underwent it. She retained some intelligence, but her naivete was as a child, and she seemed to fear nothing but the lich, himself. It was ironic, given how many times he had been forced to intercede to prevent Voidster from depths of torture that even G couldn’t stomach. On other test subjects, of course. Not his precious, fragile Doll.  


With her, his mate’s behavior was so completely different, it was unsettling to say the least. Voidster seemed to genuinely care for this damaged human. He had never given G any indication that he had wanted the affection of a female, and the lich knew for a fact that Voidster generally considered the other gender to be weak, useless, and suitable only for entertainment.  


A slight tremor shook his frame as he realized that she had turned, and was looking at him now. Those wide, dark eyes stared blankly at the observation window in her door, her face expressionless and still. Frowning, G reached for the door handle, letting himself into her room with a quiet click of the lock.  


He had left his chair in this room, and settled in the opposite corner, Doll’s dilated pupils following his progress serenely. He leaned forward, clasping his hands before his mouth. She seemed undisturbed by his presence. She was not unattractive, he decided, remembering what he and Voidster had discovered during her examination. There was no real explanation for her virginity, except sheer luck. Even if she had spent most of her life in a hospital, a patient as docile as her would be easy to drag into a dark room, defile, and release, without anyone ever knowing.  


The thought stirred a slight ache in his groin, and he shook his head irritably. “Why are you afraid of me?” he demanded, his voice harshly laced with static. “Why do you fear me and not him? He’s killed humans like you. Hundreds, at least. Eventually he’ll take your life as well.”  


She looked at him for a long moment without speaking. Then, her voice, soft and calm, “If my Angel wishes for me to die, I will gladly accept death’s embrace. I would do anything for him.”  


G stifled a groan, and rubbed a hand over his face. That was just what he needed- for Voidster to hear a human refer to him as an “angel.” No wonder he was so attached to this human. She swelled his ego as well as his cock. He sighed. She hadn’t answered his other question.  


“Why do you fear me?”  


At this, she showed a flicker of emotion. He would call it fear, if not for how resigned she seemed. “I fear your wrath. You hate me.” She trembled slightly, the knuckles of her hands whitening as she clasped them tighter together. “You want to hurt me.”  


“I don’t want to hurt you,” he muttered, averting his gaze. And he didn’t. He wanted Voidster to hurt her. He wanted to see the trust in her dark eyes shattered along with her virginity, along with her soul. He didn’t want to hurt her, he realized, he wanted to destroy her. Why?  


Abruptly, he stood, pacing in the small space. Voidster would return soon from his daily wandering of the property. They both tended to patrol the boundaries. It soothed their feral instincts and kept their home safe. Voidster tended to prefer the darkness of the early morning hours, before the sun had even risen. G preferred the afternoon. He had woken up early today, that he might observe the human without Voidster’s possessive presence. Yet still, he had no answers.  


With a frustrated sigh, the lich left Doll in her cell, closing the door behind him. By habit, he left it unlocked. No test subject had ever overcome their fear of the pair of monsters in order to leave the relative safety of their cells. It was not terribly surprising then, that G assumed that Doll would be no different.  


***  


In my short time here, I had grown used to the twin sounds of the latch and the lock on the door when it closed. When the other man left, only the latch called out. The lock was silent. My memory is fragile and not terribly accurate. I remember things that don’t happen, and I forget things that did. Would it be wrong of me to check the lock? I waited, but the man did not come back, and the lock did not sound.  


Finally, I stood, walking slowly toward the door. The floor was cool and smooth beneath my bare feet, like stone. I touched the handle of the door gently, but it did not respond. Pausing again, I pressed harder, and heard the soft click of the latch. The door swung gently open.  


I stood there for some time, peering into the dark hallway. Perhaps I should return to my bed. The man might be waiting for me in the shadows. Then I heard it; faint but unmistakable, the voice of my Master. He was some distance away, but I could go to him. I could be with him. It had been hours since I had seen him last. I craved the comfort of his presence, after the unsettling conversation I had imagined earlier with the other man.  


I braced one hand on the smooth wall, letting my heart guide me forward, until I came to the second door. This, too, was unlocked. Surely this was meant to be. Nothing happened without purpose in the world, and fate intended for me to be reunited with him. I pressed down on the lever. As the door closed behind me, another opened above, at the top of a flight of stairs.  


***  
  
  
It was either twilight or dawn, I could not tell which. Long shadows crept across the house, which was at once familiar and strange to me. I felt as if perhaps I had once known a place that looked like this. Chairs and a table meant for gatherings of people. A large, humming box meant to keep food cold. Paintings on the walls. It was at once strange and familiar. Unsettling. Pressing onward, I heard the voice of my Angel again, low and frustrated. It was coming from the other side of the building.  


I was so focused on finding him, that I did not realize I was being watched, until a movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention.  


“What the fuck.” A woman stood before me, a piece of fruit in her hand and a dish in the other. She stared at me as though I were very strange. There must be something about me that indicated I did not belong here.  


“Hello,” I said, though I remembered too late that such greetings are supposed to be accompanied by a smile. “Do you know where the Angel is?”  


She set her things on a countertop, scrubbing at her face with both hands. “The what?”  


“The Angel,” I repeated. “I heard his voice and I have come to find him. The doors opened so that I could come here.”  


“Oh.” She stared some more. I saw that she had long, beautiful hair. Perhaps that was what had set me apart. Humans should have hair. She began to approach me, and I automatically flinched back. Women could be cruel.  


“Hey, it’s okay,” she coaxed, and I hesitated, seeing her outstretched hand. It was much how the Angel had approached me. There was no cruelty in her voice, but there was fear.  


“I won’t hurt you,” I said, reaching out to take her hand. It was soft like mine, not scarred and sharp like the others. She looked at me quizzically. I had said the wrong thing again. “I live here,” I tried again, only to receive another glance of confusion. Perhaps she could not understand me.  


“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Maybe we should go back to where you ah, live. Before G or Voidster finds you here.”  


I heard her words, but I wasn’t quite listening. I had heard the voice of my Angel again, and that of the other man. Gently, I patted the woman’s hand and released it, following the sound of the voices across the room. I heard her sigh and mutter something, but she followed me, the both of us moving quietly to avoid disturbing the two that we sought.  


Finally, I reached a darkened doorway, and saw my Master just beyond it. I started to go to him, but was held back by a firm hand on my shoulder. The woman gave me a serious look, shaking her head and pursing her lips. Why didn’t she want me to go to him? I turned back, and then I saw the other man, the angry one, pacing before us. Ah, she was wise to avoid his anger. Perhaps once he left I could go to my Angel’s side.  


Their voices were low and serious, but as before, I could not understand them. It seemed this woman could, however, for she tilted her head, and glanced at me often. “I think they’re talking about you,” she murmured, barely audible beside me. “G is angry because he wants you to leave, and Voidster is angry because he wants you to… stay? G says that you’re a waste of- never mind. Um. Voidster thinks that G is jealous of you?” At this, she stared at me, but I was not paying attention.  


G must be the wrathful man, and Voidster the one who had rescued me. Their names were strange on my tongue, and I feared I would forget them. I tried my best to memorize them while I could. Names were important. Mine had been taken from me, after the knife. Somehow I knew that if I could only retrieve my name, I could gather the rest of the pieces, too. Fit the puzzle together and see the world as it truly was, instead of a shattered reflection.  


A shadow fell over us, and the woman gasped, backpedaling rapidly and attempting to drag me with her. I looked up, and felt a warmth stir in my heart. He was here. We were together. I tugged my shoulder out of the girl’s hand, and pressed myself against the solid form of Voidster. He was warm, and his scent made me feel safe. “I found you,” I murmured against his red shirt, as he stared down at me in astonishment.  


**[How did you get out of your room?]**  he finally said, placing a hand on top of my head.  


“The doors opened,” I told him, giddiness building in my soul at the excitement of it. “They led me to your voice. And your voice was with you. I found this woman, too. She eats fruit.”  


The girl and G were both staring at me, but I didn’t mind. A gentle smile tugged at the corner of Voidster’s lips, and he glanced at G.  **[It seems my errant mate left the doors unlocked, again,]** he said, but he did not sound angry.  **[A habit he may finally learn to break, with your help.]  
  
**

The other man gave him a dour look, but still embraced him, bumping his temple against Voidster’s head in what seemed to be a display of affection. He was well loved, not only by me. It made me feel strange, to realize that others must have a claim on his heart. But it was not surprising. He was a good and kind man. I watched with fascination as their lips met, their jaws gently parting to meld in blissful movements.  


It was G who noticed my avid staring, muttering something with a short rumble of amusement to his mate, who flushed slightly and glanced down at me. “What did he say?” I asked, curious what would cause my Angel to seem embarrassed.  


**[Only that it seems your interest in certain matters might be developing at an inconveniently rapid pace,]**  he muttered, taking my wrist in one large hand and tugging me after him.  **[Do not think on it, little doll. You must return to your room.]  
  
**

Though he had asked me not to think of these displays of affection between the two men, I could not help myself, and wondered desperately how I might communicate my love for him. The woman and the other man watched as I was led away, she with a troubled expression, and him with an intense, almost predatory gaze.  


When I hesitated at the stairs, Voidster swept me into his arms, carefully carrying me down the narrow steps and into the below ground place. He did not set me down again until we had reached my room, and he sat me gently on my bed. **[You look unhappy, my dear,]** he said, tilting my chin up to meet his gaze. I dropped my eyes, feeling unwontedly shy.  


“Do you love him?” I whispered, unable to look at his face as I asked.   
  
  
He paused at that, seeming surprised, then thoughtful.  **[I do love him. He is my mate, my partner, my lover.]**  He gently stroked the soft brush of my hair, a slight smile on his face. **[Are you jealous, little one?]**

**  
**

I bit my lip and did not answer, at first. Then I grasped the front of his shirt, steadying myself as I stood on my bed. I tugged his head down toward mine, and then carefully, hesitantly, brushed my lips against his. He froze, seeming shocked by my actions. I then carefully tilted my head, bumping the uninjured side of my face against his. Shakily, I released him, then slid down the wall onto my bed. I couldn’t say the words. I couldn’t bear his rejection if I did.  


Thoughtfully, he touched his lips, then stared down at me. After a long, uneasy pause, he finally spoke. **[I will return with the morning meal. Stay in your room.]** And then he left. I curled on my side, hugging my pillow to my chest, and dared to run the tip of my tongue along my lips. A stolen taste, perhaps, but it made me happy.  



	4. Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> G is bad, that's why he doesn't get fruit. Chapter by AllocateAloe with minor additions by me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter contains explicit sex.

 

The lich had awoken alone in bed, the light of dawn a pearlescent rose. It was not unusual to rise by himself, the sheets crinkled from his mate having lain there hours before. Yet, an odd itch began to settle over his hide as he dressed himself, throwing the hood of his zip up over the top of his cracked skull, settling shadows upon his features. He turned from the bedroom, not bothering with smoothing the sheets, and meandered towards the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. 

 

His paranoia was given reason when he rounded the corner, into the open living room with its attached kitchen. He stopped in his tracks, mid-step, as he found his mate perusing the fridge and grumbling to himself. A snort tore through G’s maw, and he continued towards the island counter, as his mate threw a look over his broad shoulder, seemingly just as suspicious of the lich, as he was of him. 

 

“Back so soon?” G asked, a tired tone affecting his accent. It was rare that Voidster would return so early from his exploration of the property. Static rippled through the air between them as the lich rounded the counter, and stepped casually to the coffee pot against the wall, beside the sink. 

 

A gruff sort of mumble was his response. Through the corner of his eye, the lich peered at his mate, who was holding a carton of milk, the entire bread bag, and now the entire box of strawberries, which their pet was rather fond of. It was three quarters full. G turned his attention back to his hands, taking the empty pot from its stand, and letting it fill from the sink. The fridge closed with a solid nudge of Voidster’s elbow, his arms full of his bounty. 

 

“I have a feeling you did not cross the eastern ridge, as you should have,” G stated blithely, his mate stepping behind him, and to the hall. “I suppose you will gladly take my work for today, as I have to check yours-”

 

**[I will go,]** he snarled.  **[Do not nag me, I have work to attend to today as well.]**

 

“Of course, your new trinket needs your constant care.” 

 

Voidster threw him a look that could only be described as venomous.

 

“And, for some reason, she cannot be fed the perfectly nutritionally balanced military rations that all of our other test subjects eat, instead being given the food I had purchased for  _ our human. _ How puzzling.” His white eyes bored into his mate, who shifted uncomfortably and dropped his gaze, beginning to turn away.

 

**[She does not recognize the rations as food, a substitution was required.]**

 

“Then let her starve,” G called softly after his mate, who threw open the hall closet, attempting to escape him. 

 

The hallway door slammed, but the bolt did not catch, and creaked open again as Voidster descended into the basement. His bitter, growled remarks echoed back into the kitchen at every step he took.

 

A scowl furrowed G’s brow, and he shoved the pot a tad too hard back into the coffee maker. 

 

Minutes ticked by, and just as the lich began pouring himself a cup of black coffee, he heard his mate return. His footing heavy, agitated. Good. G kept his back to the room, lifting the mug to inhale the strong scent of his coffee. But it did little to mask the earthly scent of his mate, who passed him by for a second time. This time, he was silent. 

 

G lowered the mug slightly, turning his head to see Voidster exit out of the back door. The resounding thud of the door slamming behind him seemed to shake the house, but all it did was summon a snort from the lich as he took a drink. He watched the crimson back of his partner disappear within the trees, and swallowed. 

 

Then, he turned away from the counter. But instead of going to the window, as was his custom, he slipped quietly within the hallway, and through the closet. The door shut near silently behind him, the soft click of the bolt the final sound to grace the house this morning. 

 

***

 

An empty mug sat cold on the metal table beside the lich as he worked within the small cell he had retrofitted. It was time for a new experiment. Not necessarily on schedule, as he would have liked, but one that was due, now. 

 

In this cement hold there had been a bunk, but it had been moved to make space for a simple contraption built from metal. He had drilled two large fixings into the floor, a short chain attached to each one, ending in a metal cuff. From the ceiling, a similar fixture was set into place, although with a much longer chain. It was a simple pulley system, to which two cuffs, chained together, hung from the ceiling. The other end was fed along the ceiling to the wall, where a wheel could be wrung and locked just beside the table. A perfect spot for observation, and note taking. 

 

Dust coated his zip up as he worked, the taste of stone smoldering upon his tongue. He had known of this type of torture for ages, a horrendous experience for the victim, and one that required patience and accuracy from the user. Pain of any variety may be used to test the soul, and this was a particularly efficient tool.

 

G reached for his mug, and lifted the empty cup to his lips as he took in the grandeur of his creation. The absence of drink quirked his brow, just as a voice lifted behind him. 

 

**[So, this is where you have been.]**

 

Casually, the lich set his mug back down upon the metal table, not bothering to cast a glance behind him. “You had said it was time for something… new. There was not much time within our schedule for something more elaborate, but I feel as though this will satisfy you, my dear.”

 

He could nearly taste the sweat rolling down his mate’s heaving chest as he stood just behind his left shoulder, looking over his work.  **[Ah, I see… The infamous Rack.]**

 

“More so to your tastes, than mine,” G said blankly, turning to look at the calm intrigue on his mate’s face. “It is perhaps unfortunate that you wasted the better food on that human-” an instant twitch crossed Voidster’s brow, and his violet eyes caught the lich’s with a stern look. “-unless you simply intended to give her a last meal before her expiration.”

 

**[You would waste the rarity I have found with such a crude device,]** Voidster growled, folding his arms across his broad chest, stained with sweat.  **[A perfectly damaged human, there are links to our research that I know I can find.]**

 

“That  _ you _ may find..?” The slightest of smirks tugged at the lich’s lips. “As you just said, this is  _ our  _ research.” 

 

Voidster flicked his eyes towards the chains on the floor, then upwards, to the cuffs hanging from the ceiling. Unable to hide his clear irritation, his anger nearly steamed off of him. The cold laboratory was a stark contrast to his heated, worked muscles. 

 

“Why, I thought that you would be excited,” G continued, an interesting inflection entering his voice. He stepped towards the hanging chains, idly lifting his hands to handle the metal cuffs. They were built to clip together, the smooth surfaces glinting in the light while the lich separated their jaws. “You normally become bored so quickly, I was merely thinking of you. And what a great maiden voyage it could have with that toy of yours.”

 

A hard sigh pressed from Voidster’s jaws as he stepped closer behind his mate, lifting his hand to inspect the cruel cuffs. They hung just before the lich’s face, but for him, they only reached his collarbones. His fingers intertwined between the lithe, bony ones of his mates, carefully twisting the cuff to show the invented clasp. A small pin sized hole lay hidden on the underside of each cuff, the release mechanism. However, Voidster eyed the lich below him, unaffected by how close he stood, by the possessive anger swelling in his breast. 

 

“Nothing to say…?” G almost grinned, his white iris’ focused on the metal beneath their fingers as he reached his hand higher upwards, along the chains themselves. “I thought that you might note the craftsmanship of each chain, I know of your fondness for metal.”

 

**[Indeed, you have done well.]** Voidster replied, an eerie smirk pulling his lips. Watching his mate carefully as his own fingers balanced the open brace.  **[Except that I have already told you of my intentions for the Doll. So, instead, we will have to make due with what we have.]**

 

The lich could not hide his irritation now, and as he pinched a link of the chain between his fingers, opening his mouth to speak, the metal cuff suddenly clamped shut around his wrist. G’s eyes flung open wide, stunned by the sound of the metal clipping together. Instantly, he pulled back against the cuff, yet it was firmly locked. Voidster snatched his opposite hand, and raised it to the other cuff. The lich snarled, a shrill sound escaping his throat as he whipped his head around and attempted to bite, only for his own arm to block his way, as he was clasped into place. Both wrists placed one over the other, his hands balled into fists. 

 

_ “You impetuous ass-!” _ G shouted, his mate slipping around him easily as the lich fought his bonds. “Why must you protect that broken,  _ useless, bitch-!?” _

 

Voidster kicked the lich’s ankle, and he stumbled, only being saved by his cuffed wrists. The metal bit at his hide, and produced another slurry of curses from G. He was unaware of what his mate was doing behind him, for Voidster gave no response to his infuriated demand. Then a cold, solid cuff was clamped around his ankle. Now, G truly thrashed in his bonds. A harsh roar bellowed from his chest, resounding like thunder within his ribs, he grasped onto the chain above his cuffs, and attempted to throw his knee to the side. 

 

His mate caught his calf, and it was too late to realize his mistake as the other cuff was attached, and Voidster’s warm hands left him. G pulled at his legs, and gave a sharp cry as he twisted his healing leg. Panting, he hurriedly lifted his hands, and prodded along the edges of one of the cuffs with his claws, desperately scratching the surface.

 

**[Jealousy was not something I expected from you, love,]** Voidster hummed, farther behind him. The chain above the lich began to pull its slack, and soon left him uselessly scrambling his claws for release as his arms were hoisted above him.  **[But there are...ways, of correcting bad behavior. I’m sure you know of them, since you thought of such a wondrous invention for me to use.]**

 

The lich gave a cry, full of rage, as his body was pulled into a long stretch, his arms pulled taut above his head. Instinctively, he rose to the balls of his feet, the cuffs pulling painfully down against him. Feeling trapped, he thrashed about, his spine crackling beneath his fitful hoodie twisting about him. The chains above him pulled harder at his wrists, and he choked out a surprised bark. Now forced onto the very ends of his toes, he stood in an uncomfortable display. Legs firmly spread, haunches tight and back drawn into an arch. 

 

G dropped his chin, his hood concealing his features, but not his bared fangs, as he spat. “This is a waste of our time. Release me at once-! You’ve had your fun, we will fall behind schedule  _ again _ because of your idiocy and pride!”

 

A loud slap resounded throughout the cell, and down the concrete hallway. A smarting pain having been struck against the lich’s backside, and outer right thigh. G gasped, flinching away from the sensation, but it was of little use as another lashing was struck against him in the same spot. Again, and again, with harsher intensity with each blow. Until the lich tilted his head backwards and gave an awful bay, a booming sound that ended in a tight whine. 

 

Voidster tsked disapprovingly behind the lich, who heaved in his bonds.  **[We had agreed on the proper way to speak to each other. Remember…? Or shall I remind you?]**

 

G clenched his teeth, his obsidian gums glinting in the light, bordering his jagged fangs. The stinging sensation against his flesh sparked fire within his heart, and an unconscious favoring of that specific leg. He attempted to press more of his weight into the opposite foot, his claws grinding against the cold floor, but spread out in this stance, it did little. “No. No, I remember.” G panted, ”I also remember your promise to me that we remain on our schedule, otherwise little work is done and we are forced to spend our nights in this concrete dungeon.”

 

“Which I  _ loathe _ .” The lich growled, tugging fruitlessly at his arms. 

 

A deep chuckle erupted at his back, a hot wetness pressing against his spine as Voidster’s arms ventured around his mate. Embracing him. He pushed open the lich’s zip up, running his fingertips down along the monster’s abdomen, the flesh twitching against him.  **[Must I use my belt on you again? Be silent, and proud that you will be the maiden sacrifice to my newest, most cherished device.]**

 

“Enough of this.” G snorted, the exhale wracking his body as expert fingers unbuttoned his slacks. The zipper running ever so slowly downward, exposing his dark boxers, and faint stiffness at his groin. A panic started to set upon the lich, twisting uncomfortably in his lover’s arms. “B-before you damage my leg.”

 

For a moment, Voidster paused, his hands still gripping G’s slacks. He leaned his chin forward, nestling over the top of the lich’s head, a purr erupting from his chest.  **[Relax, I am the hand the houses you...]**

 

“Don’t you use that against me-!” G sneered, his white eyes flashing beneath his raised hood, flattened against the side of his face by his mate’s chin.

 

Voidster shushed the lich, his grin bearing his teeth against the brightness of the room.  **[You are safe, for you are mine.]** He then pressed the lich’s slacks down over his sharp hips, allowing them to fall around his knees, his legs too far spread to allow them to pool upon the floor, which displeased Voidster. He withdrew from G, the lich left to hang, and pant. 

 

Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and G tilted his head upwards. Swallowing a lump in his throat, his magic flooded his veins at a dizzying speed. Then came the sound of tearing fabric. Seething, G whipped his head back down and eyed his legs, his slacks effectively being cut from his body. 

 

**[This must feel better. Being restrained as you are, to be freed from such restrictive clothing is a gift.]** Pulling the destroyed fabric away from the lich’s legs showcased the honeycombed wrapping he himself had placed over G’s wronged leg. The limb still held gouges of missing muscle, rolling hills beneath the thin bandage. Carefully, Voidster crouched down, and wrapped his hand up along the lich’s inner thigh, placing his lips against the bandages. He marked the damage with small trails of kisses upwards, along the outside of G’s calf, knee, to his thigh. 

 

A deep grey flush drew onto the lich’s face. Stubbornly, he growled and turned his attention to the side, staring at the open door. His white eyes illuminated the heavy lines beneath his eyes, and prominent brow. He continued to keep his eyes glued to the details of the door, attempting to distract himself as those venturing fingers reached upward to his hips, and began to cut away the fabric of his boxers. Leaving him utterly bare, aside from his open zip-up which hung like a sheet across his back, and covered his head. 

 

**[Come now, you are doing very little to hide the fact that you are enjoying this,]** Voidster murmured, his breath heavy in his throat as he wound his hands back down the lich’s strong haunches. He gripped his buttocks before dipping his thumbs inwards, against his inner thighs, kneading the flesh expertly, further stiffening the lich’s dark cock. 

 

G’s eyes glazed over, the dark flushing of his sharp cheekbones shadowed beneath the crown of his raised hood. He felt the lips of his lover against his leg once more, and truly could not help the way his body relaxed into the act. As much as it could, stretched as it was. G felt his own breath thudding within his skull, the room blurred, and he closed his eyes as Voidster’s thumbs caressed deeper between his thighs. An involuntary moan escaped the lich, his abdomen tightening.

 

They were both unaware of the dark eyes that peered into the room at the both of them. 

 

***

 

I had wanted to eat all that the Angel had brought me, but he was too generous. I could only devour a few pieces of fruit, and a few pieces of bread, which the milk happily washed down. I hoped that he would not be disappointed in me, as I carefully put each food item in a straight row on the floor of my room. Perfectly in line, like little toy soldiers. And that was when I heard him. 

 

Patiently, I sat on my heels, hands placed neatly upon my lap, and stared at the door, but he did not enter. 

 

Still, I waited. I hoped he was not punishing me for failing to eat all he had given me. 

 

An odd sound rang out. It was as if a puppy had been tripped over, except its voice laced through each wall and reverberated in the metal frame of my bed. I had never heard such a sound in my life. As I listened harder, I could hear the Angel’s voice, muttering deep incantations that I could not decipher. 

 

Carefully, I rose to my feet, my toes pointed inward as I smoothed my wrinkled hospital gown. The door beckoned me, and I pressed on the handle, finding it oddly deceptive, as it would not open.

 

I tried again, the metal cold and stiff as it refused me, before a broken sound rang free and it leapt in my hand. Pushing open the door, I could hear him, Voidster, much more clearly, yet I was not the one he spoke to. The light here hurt, buzzing behind my eyes like a horde of ravenous flies. I squinted my best, and patted gently down along the wall, following the breadcrumbs of my Angel’s syllables. 

 

I was a little mouse in this white hallway, passing by shut doors until I came to one that was ajar, and my Master’s voice spilled inside of me like the cool milk had. I reached for the doorknob, until an odd sound came from within. Not my Angel. I paused, and lay my body against the side of the doorway instead, tilting my head to see within the room. 

 

A shadow hung trapped from the ceiling, a witch’s cloak hanging from its shoulders, and masking its face. But the chest was laid bare, and I remembered the ugly scar of the angry man, G. His body was wound tight, like a spring, a supple arch in his back allowing his smooth white legs to bend gracefully, like a dancer. For a moment he looked almost beautiful, until I saw the scarred, sharp toes protruding from his limbs. Black slashed the white, his pale talons barely scraping the floor as he shuddered in his bonds.

 

The darkness of the room began to lift as my eyes adjusted, and I saw my Angel, crouched at the man’s bony feet, twisting around his leg to sit before him. Kneeling in an odd prayer, before opening his mouth against a hardened obsidian shaft. His tongue, purple and lengthy, greeted this flesh before curling about it, and hiding it within the cave of my Angel’s mouth. He grasped tightly at the back of the man’s legs, beneath his buttocks. 

 

A ragged groan came then, rattling the chains that kept G captured. Just as I was, watching my Master bob against his groin. The man’s thighs were set alight in a flurry of twitches. A warmth blossomed in my belly, watching the chained man stretch and arch his body. Long, and elegant. It was beautiful, and yet it twisted a knife in my heart. I couldn’t look away.

 

***

 

A deep groan drug from the lich, his eyes flittering upward into his skull. His mate’s name became a new word forged for begging. Even as sharp nails drug against the crease of his ass, scratching the surface, and pulling his inner thighs. His own panting nearly drowned the wet suckling sounds he couldn’t help but to meet with his own hips, his spine rolled beneath his skin, and urged into a gentle rocking. Needy for the giving mouth that rolled along his shaft, and seemed to hunger for his release. 

 

G could feel himself winding, and winding, his toes flexing into the concrete, his claws digging into the smooth surface beneath. Until suddenly, Voidster withdrew, spittle clinging to his bottom lip from the lich’s throbbing manhood. 

 

_ “No..” _ the lich groaned fitfully, throwing his head backwards, his body writhing against his bonds. Exposed to the cold room, he wanted nothing more than to bury into flesh. His conscious mind floated away from the forefront, his pupils swallowed by the twisting white of his irises. 

 

His mate chuckled as he bent and the metal suddenly sprung free from the lich’s ankles, causing him to gasp. Voidster then stood, quickly tearing off his crimson turtleneck, throwing it aside to bare his glistening chest. Quickly, he unfastened his slacks, and pressed them downward as he closed the gap between them. His arm wrapped possessively around his partner, his lips finding the lich’s bared teeth, piercing through them with an eager tongue, slightly numb from greasy precum. 

 

Their jaws pushed and pulled one another, breaking only for deep breaths of air before sloppily meeting again. The room filling with subtle growls, and the wetness of their tongues. Breathlessly, Voidster let out a low groan, freeing his aching cock to press urgently against the lich’s. Keeping his hand against G’s back, his free hand flung upward, cradling the lich’s cheek as he demanded the man’s throat. The monster against him writhed, coughing and gasping, yet his tongue still battled willfully. 

 

Then, Voidster withdrew his lips, his half-lidded gaze feasting on the flushed ecstasy of his mate’s expression.  **[Good boy,]** he purred, pulling his hand away from G’s cheek, the lich attempting to nuzzle into his palm. Pure white eyes gazed back at him, and Voidster gave his palm back to the lich, right before his lips. **[Now, lick, and lick well. You only get one chance to prepare me, so I can fuck you as hard as you deserve it.]**

 

Voidster’s breath came heavily, staring intently as his lover immediately responded. His flat, hole punched tongue did well, soaking the hand before him thoroughly. The taste of metal and salt, filled his mouth. Kindly, Voidster offered his fingers next, and the lich obeyed, coating them in his slick, viscous saliva. Hot as wax, and steaming. A shiver wound through the beast as his forefingers were then hastily suckled. Unable to help himself, the man pressed his digits deep within the lich’s mouth, careful of his claws, then swept the back of the lich’s throat. 

 

**[Yes, that’s it.]** He moaned, slowly pulling his fingers free. Excess saliva dripped down G’s plump bottom lip. 

 

The lich groaned eagerly, tilting his chin upwards, exposing his pulsing neck to his mate as Voidster slathered himself. He wasted no time giving in to those eyes that gazed beautifully back at him, feral, and glittering. He clawed down the lich’s back, earning a pleading, throaty sound; similar to the bay he had given earlier, but warbled with a mellow moan. He moved his hands farther down, giving his mate’s ass a hearty squeeze before swatting him almost angrily. 

 

G jolted, the slap resounding in the cell, the chains above rattling loudly as Voidster was given leverage. He grasped the lich’s thighs, and hoisted him upwards, taking a step back so that G hung freely from his wrists. His back bowed, and legs wrapped about the torso of his lover. Pleased, Voidster bared his fangs, and pressed his face forward, nudging his temple against the side of the lich’s face possessively. Marking him with his scent. All the while he pressed both hands down on the lich’s hips, momentarily using a skeletal hand to appropriately align himself to sink within his mate. 

 

G gave in to the pressure, groaning loudly in pain as his lover’s girth stretched him. Impatiently, Voidster bucked his hips, popping the head of his shaft within the other man, causing him to strain and arch. But he did not heed the lich’s begging, his groin aching with need, and he used gravity to his advantage to slowly spear through his partner. He took back his length, only to give back even more. Until he finally ceased, hilted deep within the heat of the lich, who tilted his head back and gave a hollow roar, his fangs coated in spittle. 

 

He began to move again, his hips rocking heavily into the lich, who groaned his name repeatedly. His face pressed against his inner arm, which flexed with each roll, falling into the hard, yet passionate pace. Panting, Voidster growled against the lich’s temple,  **[Hold onto me.]** The lich tightened his legs around his partner, pinching him with his knees and thighs. 

 

**[Tighter- Yes, like that.]** G locked his ankles behind his mate, beads of black essence spilling along his shaft. Turning his face to bare his fangs against Voidster’s slick cheek, their sharpness scratched his skin. 

 

Voidster lifted a hand, keeping one firmly gripped to the lich’s leg, and brought it to his lover’s shaft. Teasingly he rubbed the biting seed along the underside of his shaft. The pad of his thumb dug in slow tenderness while his hips pillaged the lich, unwilling to slow, or soften. He groaned then, low and powerful, his chest vibrating, and nestling against the lich’s horrid scar. 

 

***

 

**_[Fuckk.]_ **

 

I heard him groan, as if in horrible pain. Yet, it was the other man that seemed most wounded, the way he twisted, and how wet pools gathered along his bony wrists. 

 

I bit my bottom lip, my stomach felt as if it were flying, and my hands felt down along it, clutching at my own flesh. I remembered my Angel speaking to me, and saying that the angry man was someone he loved. Was this what love was…? It seemed painful, and yet the pain was interlaced with something sweeter. A spice on the tongue, provoking pleasure and discomfort.

 

The other man snarled like a wild beast, sharp fangs grazing the face of my beloved Angel. And yet he did not seem to fear those pointed daggers, a dark laugh springing from deep within his chest to spill forth from his lips. 

 

My hands felt further downward, brushing the uncomfortable heat between my legs. I was slick and swollen, as I had been in the shower. I remembered how he had given me pleasure. Now it seemed I had stolen it without his knowledge. Was I wrong?

 

The Angel spoke again, but this time, I couldn’t understand him. The heaviness of his voice, it sent my stomach spiralling, the springing itch beneath my fingers only growing hotter as if I stoked a flame.

 

***

 

**[You’re such a nice, tight little bitch to fuck.]** He snarled, breathing heavily between each word.  **[I should fuck you from behind, fill you to bursting-]**

 

The lich sneered, his fangs grazing Voidster’s cheek as he was rocked harshly. “Do it, you useless  _ cunt _ .” 

 

Voidster released a guttural, reverberating sound, the chains above and below rattling with the vibrations. His hips picked up the pace, bucking rapidly against the lich’s backside, the scent of sex raw and thick around them. The loving way in which his mate fit around his pulsing length was a sweet contrast to his spiteful words, filled with hate, and poison. “I deserve a better dicking than this-”

 

His words were suddenly cut by a cruel hand around his throat, squeezing with crushing force. The lich tilted his head back, and choked out a gasping moan. His fangs leaving soft scratches along Voidster’s cheek in their wake, coming to rest just beneath his eye.  **[I’ll break you- You rebellious, needy basket case. I’ll feast on your tears, I won’t stop until you beg your Master to come, like the mewling plaything that you truly are.]**

 

The lich’s snarls gurgled from his throat as he suddenly assailed his lover’s face with feral biting, pinching and gouging his skin violently. Voidster returned the favor, yawning open his jaws with a bone chilling roar, his hot breath flooding over the lich. Their teeth met wildly in the middle, biting onto one another’s open mouths, their fangs interlocking and slicing each other’s gums. The lich was truly tested now, Voidster’s hips snapping up against him repeatedly, burying fully with every jerk forward. His fist harshly pumping the lich’s length, grasping painfully tight.

 

*******

 

My breath caught in my throat, staring wide eyed as the two attempted to tear at one another. My Angel, battling the lich in wraith’s clothing. Red and black splatters trickled down their lips, and across their flashing teeth, leaving ink blots across their skin. The sounds they made, it reminded me of the distant howls of my demons. Or a pack of hounds tussling. And just like a fight between animals, it wasn’t long before one began yelping. 

 

I gripped my gown, a drum beating in my chest.

 

***

 

G yipped, a shrill noise in the back of his throat, attempting to lean away from his lover’s attacks. But he pressed further forward, and sliced the lich’s lips with his teeth, his jaws wider, and stronger. The lich resounded with the noise, shaking his head and tilting his chin far up and away from the bites of his lover, which pinched and blossomed bruises along the side of his face, and jaw. Angrily, Voidster took his hand from the lich’s throat, and replaced it with his predatory bite, blood seeping around his fangs. 

 

Voidster’s violet eyes dilated, the wide diamonds shuddering at the taste pooling against his tongue. His hips shoving so hard forward, that the chain rattled all the louder from above. Wet trickles of darkness spilling over the harsh edges, and dripped down the lich’s rippling arms. 

 

Finally, the lich croaked.  _ “P-please..! I-I’m-!” _

 

A shudder wound through Voidster, his thighs tensing, an involuntary groan bubbling from within him. With the force of his weight, he thrusted within the lich, coated in spittle and violet essence. Growling, he withdrew from his bite, and sneered against G’s face.  **[Please** **_what_ ** **-?!]**

 

***

 

_ “A-ahn’a, ahn’a va’nen, por Del’monn-!” _

 

He shouted, but his words were lost. On me, maybe, but not on my Angel. It was as if he had cast a spell, for my Angel threw himself rabidly forward continuously faster, a deep moan bleeding from his lips, muffled against the lich’s skin. The other man tossed his head backwards, and I saw his eyes, as bright as the lights that hurt me, wide, and shuddering. Dark fountains of passion roped upwards from my Angel’s fist, spilling along the black scar and white skin around it, coated in dew. 

 

The man closed his eyes quickly, his entire body shuddering with force as a grimace crossed his face. My Master’s hips moved in the same way, before slowly stilling, a deep fluid dribbling to the floor between his flexed toes. 

 

They remained joined, my Angel’s face hidden within the other man’s neck. Their bodies heaving with the effort of breathing. Slowly, the man brought his chin back down, his eyes still closed, as he pressed his tongue into the cheek of my Angel. His white skin sparkling from the paths of gentle licking. 

 

Whatever they had been fighting about, seemed resolved now. 

 

I stretched out my hand, and opened the door. Stepping in as he began to speak.

 

***

 

**[Mnn,** **_‘P-please, please come, my Master’_ ** **...]** He chuckled, turning his face into the lich’s loving laps. A gentle rumbling budding within the monster’s chest, his unique sort of purr.  **[You should say that more often.]**

 

“Don’t push it…” G panted, his voice subdued, and raspy. 

 

Voidster continued to grin, his lips meeting the lich’s as they carefully prodded their tongues along the other’s gumline. Searching for damage, and carefully swiping away the blood. His purple tendril caught a deep gouge above the groove of the lich’s fang, earning a flinch away and a warbled whine. The man brought up his hand, gently cradling G’s cheek, and bringing his face farther to him, running his tongue carefully against the pierced gumline. The lich continued to flinch, but slowly relaxed. Their joined bodies basking in afterglow, and the heat of one another. 

 

The lich slowly flicked open his eyes, his mate wrapping his arms around his back, and loosening the biting grip of the cuffs around his stinging wrists. He submitted to Voidster’s instruction, feeling the pressure of his fingers against his chin, he lifted his head and allowed his mate to lick, and suckle, at the bite wounds he created. 

 

A soft sigh left the lich’s lungs, his pupils rising back to the surface of his eyes, and he gazed to the side. Back towards the door he had studied, but was suddenly startled by a small silhouette standing against the harsh white of the hallway. Voidster grunted as his mate jostled within his arms, and suddenly spat, peppering the air with blood. 

 

**[Enough.]** He instructed, slightly annoyed as he righted himself, and pulled his hips back from his mate. Popping from his abused body. The lich shuddered harshly, wincing with a gasp that kept his fangs bared. Voidster tilted his head to the side, studying the way his mate’s eyelids fluttered open again.  **[There, better…?]**

 

Then, a delicate voice rose. “Did he do something bad…?”

 

Voidster whipped his head to the side, staring at the small girl who stood pigeon toed a mere few feet away. Holding onto her gown, as if it would be ripped off of her. 

 

**[What are you doing-?]** He snapped, the lich’s blood smeared along his lips. 

 

“Is that why he is crying? Because he did something bad?”

 

Taken aback, he stood frozen with the lich’s legs wrapped around him, his coated shaft sticky with purple webbing that added further spill to the floor. He looked to the lich, and found his cheeks stained with tears, only visible from the light spilling in from the hallway. The glittering pathways bled into his neck, caught against his scars. But he was too busy staring at the odd girl, his pupils shivering, the pant in his breast continuing from their violent love making. 

 

Turning back to the girl, Voidster began to laugh. Softly, at first, but his stomach beat with the breaths hitching through his throat. She stared at him, almost monotone in expression, her head tilted to the side. 

 

**[Why, yes… He had done something very bad. And I had to punish him for it.]**

 

That caught the lich’s attention, his brow furrowed into a glare, staring at his mate.

 

“Because… he’s so angry? Is that why he doesn’t get fruit, but we do?”

 

**[Something like that,]** he breathed, his voice still sailing on his laugh. The sound only pausing as he planted a kiss on G’s lips, one that wasn’t returned, and pulled his hands down to the lich’s thighs. 

 

G kept glaring, but unhooked his ankles, and straightened himself as he was set back down. Carefully, slowly, as if it were an example. The grey flushing stayed stained upon the lich’s face, his chest heaving with the attempt to catch his breath. He felt the girl’s eyes on him, never blinking. He ground his teeth together, marked with his own seed, slathered against his underbelly, and his mate’s, which continuously seeped from him and slithered down his legs. 

 

Voidster felt his hand along the black bandages of G’s left leg, earning a flinch and a flutter of skin here and there. The lich only bowed his leg beneath the pressure behind his knee, which was a good sign. The man then straightened himself up, tucking his ebbing manhood into his slacks and turned towards the girl. Leaving his mate tied to the ceiling, but with his legs free. He prefered them to be together, allowing his weight to fall upon his left hip. 

 

**[Come now, let’s get you back to your room.]** He said, projecting his voice so it would bounce about the cell, bewildering the lich. 

 

Voidster set his hand upon the girl’s shoulder, and led her back to the door. 

 

G gasped, lifting his head and shoulders as he barked. “Wait-! Voidster-!”

 

“He’s yelling at you,” she stated, looking upward at the monster beside her, while the one at their backs struggled in his bonds. 

 

**[Yes, he does that often,]** he replied flatly, leading her out of the room, and down the hall. 

 

“Get back here, you  _ fuck-! _ ”

 

The lich’s voice trailed out behind them, drowned by the rattling of chains, before a solemn, deep cry resounded behind them. Fading across the concrete, mostly sterile, laboratory. 

 

***

 

G hung limp from the ceiling, his head tucked against his arm. Still standing, somewhat, on his left leg. His right was as bent as it could be at this height. His breathing came soft, and slow. Having tired himself out from fighting, and from the soreness spread across his entire body. He slept rather deeply, and when his chains were loosened from the ceiling, he hardly noticed. His legs buckling beneath him. 

 

Slowly, he stirred, his shoulders completely numb from the horrible position he was left in. He couldn’t feel his arms. Thick hands were upon his wrists, soft curse words murmuring from above his temple. His eyelids fluttered, but hardly opened as he was held up by a strong arm around him, his wrists suddenly released from the metal shackles. He slumped against his mate, his arms dropping around his shoulders. The blood rushing to both limbs, he groaned painfully as he was lifted. 

 

**[Now, let’s get you to bed,]** Voidster murmured, swiping the backs of G’s legs, holding him bridal style.  **[And hopefully, you have learned to leave me to my devices, as I have done for you.]**

 

Growling, pained, G did not notice the second pair of feet following on after them. “You cannot keep it...”

 

**[And you cannot tell me what to do with** **_my_ ** **belongings.]**

 

The fire in his shoulders, and arms, began to rage. Shutting his eyes, he snarled and tilted his head back into his mate, unable to lift his own arms, he bent to the pressure of his blood returning to the limbs. By the time Voidster had climbed the stairs, and passed through the hallway, another pair of feet scrambled after them. And the pain tripled.

 

“G-! Voidster- What happened?!” Spot shouted.

 

“He was bad.” 

 

“B-bad…?” 

 

“He doesn’t like fruit.”

 

The perplexed women stalled before the master bedroom doors, as Voidster waltzed through the threshold and laid his mate down upon the sheets. Agony spreading across his features, new tears springing into his eyes as he forcibly opened them to stare upwards at the man above him. 

 

“You will not- get your way with this.” G ground out, tilting his head into the pillow beneath his head as Voidster carefully moved his arms into a better position. It only intensified his pain, and he gasped, the sound hitching in his throat. 

 

**[Just as you tried to get your way by putting my precious Doll on the Rack. Interesting.]** He said simply, walking around the bed as the lich writhed against the sheets, craning his head back as waves of pain slammed into his joints, and doused his muscles in acid. Voidster seemed to consider something, silently, before sighing, and withdrawing a syringe from his pocket.  **[You don’t deserve it, but this will ease the pain. Rest, and when you wake, do not trouble me again about this human. I will do with her as I see fit.]** He slipped the needle into the lich’s tense forearm, depressing the plunger before placing the cap back on the empty syringe and replacing it in his pocket.

 

Voidster pressed out of the room, and down the hall. The girl in white quickly following him, always staring up at him from his side. Always basking in his personal space. As they left, Spot rushed into the room and to the lich’s side. Blushing at his naked state, she quickly ran for a damp rag, or three, to make him more comfortable.

 


	5. The Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gift giving goes awry.

 

Voidster hummed as he worked, carefully turning the metallic black band in his large hands. It was a version of the translators G had created for humans, only slightly larger. He would have preferred this design for Spot, their shared human, but G had insisted it was too demeaning, too...unethical. That wasn’t an issue, here. He even plucked a metal identification tag from the pile meant for test subjects, engraving it with a steady, precise hand.

 

When he was finished, he looped the tag around the rigid circle, which had an open back that would snap shut and magnetically lock itself. Doll would be left with a smooth metal band around her neck, a way for her to understand them, finally, when they were not speaking to her. And a reminder to G that she was not just another test subject. Regular test subjects didn’t even get translators. They didn’t need them to be tortured.

 

The lich was still resting upstairs from his last “reminder” of what happened when he trifled with Voidster’s possessions. It had been an enjoyable lesson to give, and G had finally stopped bringing it up, not saying a word, even when Voidster had taken the girl out into the yard for the first time, allowing her to wander while he watched with an indulgent eye. 

 

She never strayed far, and while Spot seemed to regard this new human with a mixture of pity and wariness, she freely interacted with Doll, when she could. Their conversations were hardly stimulating, but that was to be expected between two human women who were missing most or all of their memories. Doll said interesting things, to be sure, but half of them were nonsense, and the other half a confused jumble of what she had intended to say, and whatever thoughts were tumbling around in her head at the time she said it.

 

She was sitting in the corner now, a short length of chain in her hands that she was twisting and talking to as if it could hear her. Her large black pupils reflected the shine of the metal, and despite how long Voidster worked, she didn’t seem to lose interest in the chain. It was a harmless enough distraction for her, and when she wasn’t stroking it or coiling it around her hand, she sat and watched him solemnly, her adoration obvious.

 

Therein lay the problem, for the lich, and the intrigue for Voidster. Humans, especially females, feared him. They didn’t cling to him or go searching for him when they were lonely. They acted like prey, and thus they were. Doll was a subtle mixture of childlike naivete, an intelligent creature trapped in a broken mind, and a restrained sense of sexuality that often manifested at inopportune times. She didn’t fear him.

 

Since her observation of he and G’s entanglement, he had found her gazing at his groin frequently and with frustrated curiosity. Part of him was amused and wanted to indulge her, and himself. He never hesitated to take what he wanted, and he enjoyed breaking a virgin as much as G did. 

 

But carnal pleasure was something he catered to without reservation, and there was too much at stake to simply break the hymenal thread as if it meant nothing. He saw Doll as a complex arrangement of shattered pieces, and who knew what initiating her to sexual pleasure would change. The risk was too great. He could find satisfaction with G or with their human pet. Doll would wait, for now. 

 

He had seen her clumsy exploration of her own body. It was as if that moment in the shower had awoken something she had never known, before. The fact that she was a virgin was surprising enough. The realization that she had never known even the pleasure of self gratification was far more surprising, especially given how uninhibited she was around others. Another mystery he was far from solving.

 

Satisfied, he leaned back, examining the collar with its delicate tag in the low light. He didn’t need much to see, and for Doll, it was practically a necessity, her blown pupils far too sensitive for what most people would consider a normal level of lighting. It didn’t occur to Voidster that he was being kind to Doll, any more than it occurred to him how much his behavior had truly changed when he was around her. He was simply taking care of this fragile, intriguing human that had attached itself to him, worshipped him. A benevolent god of humans who were too broken to fear him.

 

***

 

G groaned, rolling onto his side automatically as he woke. It was dark outside, which told him little about what time it was. His body still ached, but the abuse he had suffered at Voidster’s hands had largely healed, and only his damaged leg remained stiff and slightly inflamed. It was acceptable. Unlike the single strawberry that sat innocently on his bedside table, slightly wilted but still vibrant. Either Voidster was taunting him, which his mate rarely did after such a session of lovemaking, or he was letting that girl roam freely about the house. As if she were a second pet, as if he could simply add another human girl to G’s household without his permission or consent. He scowled.

 

Rolling out of bed, he swept the strawberry into the trash, standing and stretching lithely, like a cat. His spine popped and rolled, his joints creaking as he resumed his natural posture, and took clothing from his dresser to don. Slacks, and one of the few similar dark hoodies he owned, letting the jacket hang open freely, exposing his tattered chest. He didn’t bother with shoes, and stalked out of the bedroom slowly, half expecting the human to be standing eerily in the hallway, staring at him. But no, he was alone. Voidster must be with the test subjects, the ones he hadn’t adopted at least, G thought with a grimace, or patrolling the property.

 

He slowly entered the kitchen, starting a fresh brew of coffee as he continued examining the house, looking for the girl. Perhaps Voidster truly had left her in her room, as he should have. The lights in Spot’s room were dim, but he heard no voices, and assumed she must be reading a novel before bed. He didn’t disturb her.  _ She  _ had done nothing wrong.

 

The coffee gurgled, and finished brewing. He retreated back to the kitchen, pouring a cup and taking a sip of the scalding liquid without flinching as he made his way to his study. Soft light from the lamp he usually left on in the room spilled outward into the dark hallway, and he was only just within the threshold when he finally saw the human he had assumed was down with the test subjects,  _ where she belonged.  _

 

He wasn’t thinking when he gently shut the door, startling Doll, who had been running her fingertips over the claw marks on his desk. He wasn’t thinking when he locked it one-handed, setting the coffee down as he approached her, his attention focused on the shining black metal collar around her neck. The metal was wrought in a delicate tube to avoid sharp edges, and a silver tag glittered in the hollow of her throat.

 

When he lashed out with one clawed hand, grabbing the collar and yanking her painfully toward him, she didn’t make a sound. She stood, painfully arched on her tiptoes, as he had been when she had found them the other night, ironically. He read the tag. The front simply said “Doll” but the back…the back said, “Human Pet.” This was going too far.

 

He stared down into her wide-eyed gaze, the black pools of her pupils meeting the white of his in something far more intimate than a look, alone. Growling, he sharply jerked the collar downward, forcing her onto her knees in front of him. Still she was soundless, staring at him not with fear, but a look of surprise. She was freshly showered, the scent of her pale skin reaching his parted maw as he stared down at her, his groin stirring at her scent and her submissive posture.

 

Wordlessly, he lowered his other hand, pressing her face to the crotch of his trousers, against his stirring manhood. Her lack of reaction frustrated him, made him want to scare her, force her to fight back against him. “This is what you want, isn’t it you little slut?” he growled, unable to see her expression as he kept her cheek pressed against him. “You want your ‘angel’ to take you as he would a woman, but that isn’t how he sees you. To him you are an intriguing puzzle. The first human to ever love him in your own, misguided way. What will he do with you when the intrigue wears off and the Doll is no longer new, I wonder…”

 

He released her face, keeping hold of her collar, and unzipped his trousers, freeing his dark shaft to press against her bandaged face. “What better way to hasten the process, than to take away one more piece of the puzzle. If you want to live in my home, you will pay the price of admission to  _ me. _ ”

 

He released her collar, and she fell backward, no longer balanced by the tension against her neck. Bending, he picked her up easily, pushing her down against the desk on her back, the hospital gown scrunching up behind her and revealing her soft, unused sex. Still she did not cry out for help, did not tell him to stop. She did nothing, laying with her legs naturally spread before him, staring in a daze at him, as though she could not quite focus on what was happening. It didn’t matter. She would feel him soon enough.

 

He reached one large, knuckled hand toward her face, pressing his thumb into her rosebud lips. Her mouth was hot and wet inside, and she did not resist his penetration. Not like her body would when his length was finally striking through it. G panted, already wildly aroused by the knowledge of her virginity, her helplessness, and the power he held over her. A bead of precum built at the head of his cock as he rested his shaft passively against her delicate folds. He bent his head to her face, inhaling the scent of blood from her healing surgical wound, and the fresh scent of the soap that had been used to wash her.

 

He cupped one small breast in his hand, brushing his thumb over her nipple until her face was flushed, her heart beating like a fragile drum within her chest. A faint whimper slipped from her parted lips, and that was all it took to decide him. He would take her now, he would-

 

The door of his study shuddered angrily under the pounding of a fist against it.

 

**[G! I know she’s in there with you, unlock this door! NOW.]**

 

He snarled over her splayed body, torn between his ferality and his knowledge that Voidster’s wrath would truly be unspeakable if he continued this game. It was one thing to break her, clean up the virginal blood and return her to her room before his mate returned. It was another to claim her with the man standing just outside the door, ready to shatter it into kindling as he had another time before.

 

**[G, I will give you five seconds before I lose my temper and open the door myself.]**

 

With ill grace, the lich glared at the human girl who blinked back innocently at him. He snagged her collar in one claw, dragging her down to the floor in a heap while a summoned hand adjusted his aching cock back into his trousers. Voidster could accuse him of nothing without evidence.

 

He unlocked and opened the door, Voidster’s fist poised above it as he did, throwing a sour look at his mate. “Keep your  _ toys  _ out of my study,” he snarled, pointing back at the girl who sat with splayed legs on the floor, gazing up at both of them, seemingly unmolested. “I didn’t give you permission to give her a translator, and I certainly didn’t give you permission to let her have free roam of the house. This game you’re playing is fast running the course of its amusement, and when none remains, I will kill her myself!”

 

Voidster’s violet gaze darkened, and he took a menacing step toward the lich, his eyes fixed on his mate’s furious expression.  **[If you kill her, I will take our other human and leave. It’s clear now that you cannot contain your jealousy, when I spent months catering to that rebellious cunt you called your mate-!]**

 

At this, the lich growled, the sound low and menacing as he stared with hatred into Voidster’s eyes. “Dare not to speak of her in that way, or I will throw you out myself. And  _ our  _ human will remain here, where she belongs. You had brought her for me, and it seems you have a new one that you much prefer. See how far you get in the surface world without my money, without a place to live or funds to buy one! See how well you keep your human pet, when any human that sees the pair of you will call the police and have her taken from you, as I should do myself!”

 

Voidster did not interrupt the lich’s rant, his face grim. When G had finished, he still said nothing, instead stepping heavily over to the still girl on the floor, gathering her up into his arms.  **[Did he harm you?]** he breathed down at her, tilting her chin up to meet his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I thought that he would like the red berry if he tried one, but he doesn’t want new things. Where do I belong?” It was a question none of them could answer.

 

**[Down to your room for tonight,]** Voidster murmured, ignoring his mate and carrying her past him, as G turned to watch them go.  **[I know the lock is broken, but you must remain inside until I fetch you. I fear it isn’t safe for you to wander.]**

 

He knew. Or he had guessed. Voidster was no fool, to find G locked alone in his study with the girl and think that nothing had happened. G wondered just how much longer the other man would wait to take her to bed himself. Surely he must know that time was running out. Not only for the girl, but for the two of them. They were both too prideful to give ground in this matter. Was he truly willing to give up the man who had been his savior, his torturer, his lover, and his enemy for so long, now? Was Voidster so easily seduced by misguided love that he would abandon the lich, who had been his steadfast mate for just as long?

 

He sat at his desk and sipped at his coffee, cold now, and bitter. He could see no solution to this situation.

 

***

 

Spot lay in bed, devouring another novel as the hours crept past. She was startled when the doorknob rattled, Voidster entering the room with a frustrated expression and the new girl he had found, Doll, in his arms. Her pale cheeks glittered with translucent tears, and the monster carrying her sighed in frustration.   
  
**[Keep her in your room. She won’t stay in hers, and G is being...uncooperative.]**

 

“Are you serious?” Spot raised her eyebrows, setting her book aside. “Voidster, why is she crying? If G is so upset maybe you should take her back to wherever you found her-”   
  
“No,  _ please, _ ” the girl begged, gripping Voidster’s turtleneck and gazing at Spot with unshed tears in her eyes. “I can’t go back, please, please,  _ please. _ ”   
  
Shocked, Spot said nothing, watching as Voidster deposited the crying girl onto her bed. It was a queen sized mattress, there was room. Sighing, she turned down the covers and awkwardly patted the mattress, watching as Doll crawled over and lay hesitantly beside her, wrapping her arms around Spot’s torso and burying her face in her side. 

 

That was a little more intimate than Spot had wanted to be, but she couldn’t bring herself to force the crying girl to her own side of the bed. Biting her lip, she tucked the covers around them both, letting Doll cling to her as she picked her novel back up. She glanced back up at Voidster, and shook her head slightly. “She needs help, Voidster. From a real doctor, not from you.”

 

He scowled down at Spot.  **[She has chosen me as her master. I am responsible for her care. Humans are social creatures. She’ll feel better with another woman nearby.]**

 

**[I’m locking the door,]** he added, turning to leave.

 

“Fucking hell,” Spot muttered, turning a page in her book and ignoring him.

 

“Those are bad words,” Doll murmured sleepily into her ribs, tightening her arm around Spot and burrowing further under the blanket.

 

Spot said nothing, still holding the book, her thoughts miles away.

 


	6. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for intense/disturbing imagery and horror elements.

 

Spot’s door was locked, again. Grumbling to himself, G strode over to the offending door and unlocked it with one hand, then paused. Voidster hadn’t done this in quite some time. Suspiciously, he turned the handle of the door, silently opening it to peer inside. The shaft of light from outside the room fell upon two figures lying together in the bed. Spot was lying on her side, staring blankly at the wall. Doll was behind her, arms wrapped around Spot’s torso and face buried in her hair. G sighed.

 

Spot glanced down at him, and gave a small, helpless shrug. Leaving the door open, the lich stepped into the room, kneeling beside her as Doll slept on, oblivious. “Did Voidster do this?” he murmured, barely audibly.

 

Spot grimaced, rolling her eyes. “What do you think? Apparently it’s my job to babysit whatever the two of you adopt; whether it’s a half-starved kitten or another human being. Voidster said the lock on her door is broken, and she wouldn’t stay in her room.”

 

G scowled, propping his chin on his hand, his elbow balanced on his knee as he muttered, “Why does he insist on keeping such a broken, useless, girl?”

 

He had intended the question to be rhetorical, but Spot surprised him with an answer. “Haven’t you noticed yet? That’s what he likes, G. This is your house, but all of us are here because of him. He likes broken people. Me...you...her.” She ignored his glare at being included in this category. “You know I’m right.”

 

She _was_ right. G had never considered this before, and the reality of it stunned him. Voidster had _always_ held a fascination for damaged people. He liked vulnerability. He liked to manipulate, to control. It was no surprise that he had taken in a girl who was both damaged, and prone to irrational adoration and obedience.

 

G had loved Sun for her sassy intelligence, her fearlessness and brilliant soul. It was what attracted him to her. He appreciated those traits in his mate as well. Voidster had none of Sun’s compassion or sense of Justice, but he was just as strong-willed and fearless. If G had a “type” of person that he felt attracted to, then that was it.

 

Voidster’s type was as Spot had said. Broken. Vulnerable. Easily manipulated. It didn’t sit well with the lich to realize this. He knew that Voidster had some respect for him, that the man treated him as an equal, usually. And yet, would he feel any interest at all in G, if G did not possess those “attractive” traits that his mate preferred? It disturbed him.

 

He was broken from his reverie by movement in the corner of his eye. Doll had woken up, and was watching him. “I used to have beautiful hair, like this,” she murmured, reverently touching Spot’s scalp. “The people who give you scars take everything away. It’s what they do.”

 

Disturbed, the lich stood up, ignoring the troubled look in Spot’s eyes. “Keep her out of my study,” he said shortly, then left, closing the door behind him.

 

***

 

My Angel didn’t know why I was crying, that night. I was showered, wrapped in a fresh towel, and carried back to my room. My bandages were removed, lest they become wet. I saw my face in the mirror. With the sight of the scar, like a hideous centipede attached to my temple, came a flood of memories.

 

***

 

_They were screaming again. I cradled my younger sister against me and tried to shield her from the words. My parents hated us. They hated each other. The walls were thin, and we were too young to do anything but hide. We held each other and cried silently, lest the sound of our grief inspire further wrath._

 

_She was a beautiful child, my sister. Auburn curls, hazel eyes. I always envied her those hazel eyes. We were best friends, only a year apart in age. We learned quiet games, and to read before our classmates. Reading was a safe thing; it made no noise, and took us away from the nightmarish world we lived in. The school was generous with books, which was good, for we could afford none of our own._

 

_I was reading to her the day it happened. It was a fairytale. I remember it, like I remember the scent of her skin, and the warmth of her body in my lap. It was late afternoon, and the sunlight filtered into our filthy home, temporarily gilding the ugliness before the shadows came._

 

_My mother had been drinking, staring out the window like she was waiting for someone. Perhaps for my father. He had left a vivid bruise on her arm, like maroon grapes imprinted on her soft flesh. She came into our bedroom, and I saw the bruise when she bent to take my sister’s hand for her bath. She saw me see it, and said nothing. I was not unintelligent. There was no explanation needed._

 

_If I had known that would be the last time I saw my sister, I don’t know what I would have done. I rehearsed it in my head, afterward. Bravely taking her hand in mine, running out the door and into the streets. Pushing my mother’s hand away. Later, when I learned how it had happened, I imagined breaking the fingers of that hand. Curling my fist in the pretty auburn hair my sister had inherited, and dragging her head back while a blade slid across her throat._

 

_Those awful thoughts didn’t come until later. Now, all I heard were the gentle sounds of the bath, the splashing of water. It was some time before I realized how long it had been. Much too long. When I listened, I heard my mother’s quiet sobbing from the bathroom, and the slosh of water against the tile. I think I knew, then. But my mind protected me for a little bit longer._

 

_The walk down the hallway was long, and solemn. Shadows were beginning to form. Father would be home soon. I was worried that he would be angry our baths had taken so long. Dinner wasn’t ready. I saw the uncooked pasta lying on the countertop._

 

_Hesitantly, I pushed the bathroom door open. And the fluorescent light flickered over a scene that embedded itself in my mind like a parasitic worm, burrowing, and burrowing. I saw my sister lying naked in the tub, face down in the water. Her beautiful curls floated serenely in the tepid waves. I screamed._

 

 _My mother sat helplessly on the floor, staring at her hands, weeping. I dragged my sister’s body from the tub, though it seemed to weigh more than anything I could imagine. Her lips were blue. Her beautiful eyes were cold and blank. I shook her and screamed again. My mother wept. My sister flopped limply in my grasp- like a doll.  
  
_ _  
_   
_The neighbors came. Then the ambulance came. They took us all to the hospital. I held my sister’s hand so that she wouldn’t be afraid. Her hand was cold. She was silent. My mother wept._

 

_The nurses at the hospital were kind, but soon the police came. They led my mother, unresisting, away. I called out to her, but she did not meet my eyes. They had seen the bruises. I could not live with my father, and my sister was in Heaven now. I was sent away. For failing to protect her, I was sent to Hell instead._

 

_Girls can be cruel. They teased me for being an orphan. They said that my parents didn’t want me. They said that my mother had killed my sister. They said that she should have killed me, as well. I couldn’t disagree._

 

_The beds in the orphanage were cold. The food was tasteless. There were no books to read. The other children invented games, as children are wont to do, and I watched them. I could not find myself. I was still on the bathroom tile, screaming. The worm burrowed deeper into my mind, my sister’s body rigid, her face with eyeless sockets and an open mouth, silently screaming. My stillness unnerved the other orphans. They let me be, when they found I did not react to the usual taunts. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered._

 

_When I was old enough for swimming class at the school, I stared at the ultramarine water. It seemed as vast and endless as that porcelain ocean my sister had died in. We jumped into the water, and I let myself sink. At first, nobody noticed. I took one gushing breath of liquid in, before the lifeguard pulled me out, and forced me to expel it. I didn’t die that day, but I found myself again. Briefly. The worm went still, but my sister’s screaming face remained embedded in my dreams._

 

_A new craving built in me, poisoning my spirit. I yearned to see my mother one more time. I built violence within my soul until I quivered with it, slicing my own skin with a piece of glass to watch the blood run. I imagined it was my mother’s throat. Vengeance drove me to eat, to sleep, to survive. Without it, I would not have lived. Perhaps that would have been best._

 

_It took only a few quiet altercations for the other youths to learn that I was better left alone. I began carrying a knife; a tiny, easily hidden switchblade. One day I would use it on my mother. For now, it merely leant me a reputation. Girls stopped being cruel. They feared me. Until a few made the mistake of forgetting why I was feared._

 

_It was only a matter of time, really. Until somebody learned of my past. Until a pack of cruel, taunting girls made the mistake of mentioning my sister’s death. I don’t remember what happened. One moment, they surrounded me, laughing and jeering. Then the screaming began. Somebody grabbed my wrist, forcing me to drop the bloody knife in my hand. A girl lay beneath me, bleeding from her eye and cheek. The skin had been so deeply slashed, the muscle was exposed._

 

_I didn’t realize that I was screaming, that I had been screaming, until the other teachers wrestled me away from her. It was my sister’s name. A battle cry. A mantra. I would burn the world to bring her back. I would kill them all. That’s what I was saying, when the ambulance came. Two, actually. One for the girl I had wounded. One to take me away._

 

_When you’re a “violent” patient, you’re treated like an animal. I paced like an angry tiger when they didn’t sedate me. When they did, I mumbled fever dreams and threats. I told them all the plans I had, I described my mother’s death. I asked for my knife. They didn’t give it to me. I told them I would kill them all and lay their corpses on my sister’s altar. They wrote down what I said, with interested expressions._

 

_When an orderly tried to drag me into a dark closet, running his hands over my body, I didn’t scream. I tilted my head up, let my lips brush against his throat, then sank my teeth into it. I didn’t scream. He did. I took a chunk of flesh with me, his blood smearing my face like a crime scene. It sprayed from his neck and dripped down the front of my stained gown. Yes, I did it. His body’s meat was in my mouth. He didn’t come back._

 

_There was but one solution for my incurable violence. They strapped me to the bed and shaved my head. I thrashed and struggled, spitting obscenities at them until I was gagged. They wheeled the bed into an operating room. The lights were so bright, it was like staring into the sun. I was furious. My heart beat in my ears and my body was like an overstrung bow. The surgeon put the mask over my face, and the last thing I saw before I slept, was my sister’s hollow-eyed, screaming face._

 

***

 

I woke with my arms wrapped around her, my mind blissful and hazy. I could feel her smooth locks against my cheek, feel the warmth of the blanket in the bed we shared. It was as if I were transported to my childhood, safe again with my sister.

 

But then I heard her voice, and it was low. Not the voice of a child at all. And I heard the static-laced voice of the man. Slowly, I truly became aware. The sharpness of my memories faded into the wandering haze of my new awareness. I wasn’t home. Nor in the hospital. My emotions, that had felt so real, were lost as the dreamscape disappeared. I was complacent again.

 

When the man left, the woman turned to me, gently touching my face. I realized that tears had dried on it again, and wondered why. She didn’t make me sad. She was kind.

 

“Do you want some breakfast?” she whispered gently, and I nodded. Carefully, she disentangled herself from my arms, helping me out of the bed. A vague unease had settled in my mind, but I could find no reason for it. The light from the lamp glowed a warm gold, like a sunny afternoon. It hurt a little, to look at it. It reminded me of a fairytale.

 

“Doll?” Her voice was hesitant, and I turned to face her blankly.

 

“My sister was a doll, once,” I said softly, not really sure what I meant. A sister? Why would I have a sister? “I don’t have a sister,” I amended, before the woman could speak. Stupid. Not making sense. No wonder the angry man didn’t want me here.

 

Struggling to focus, I smiled at her. She returned the smile, but it was tired and lonely when she wore it. It made me sadder than if she hadn’t smiled at all.

 

“We’ll have some fruit and toast,” she said, and I nodded, taking her outstretched hand. For the briefest moment, her face transformed. Maggots squirmed in the darkness of her empty eyes, her mouth torn open and fanged, screaming. I stared, but I did not flinch. The worm moved sluggishly through my brain, and the vision was gone as suddenly as it had come. I didn’t question it. It meant nothing to me.

 


	7. Virgin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noncon warning.

G heard his mate return from his morning run of the property. He frowned and sipped at his laced coffee, seated behind his desk. Instead of drinking the beverage plain and black, like he normally did, he’d poured a liberal amount of scotch into the glass. For the first time in months, he found he could not focus on work. Doll’s words echoed in his mind. _The people who give you scars take everything away. It’s what they do._

 

He stared at his hands, at the thin, purposeful slices that matched the scars on his feet. He sighed, standing to stare out the window broodingly. It would rain today. He heard the quick footsteps of his mate approaching the study, the combined scents of his sweat and his natural, spiced scent wafting into his jaws. He didn’t turn to greet the other male, choosing to linger at the window and stare out at the darkening clouds.

 

Voidster slipped up behind G, his damp chest and rapid heartbeat pressing to the lich’s back. He crossed one arm possessively over G’s chest, slipping his claws beneath the thin hoodie the lich wore. His other hand gripped his hip, tugging G back against himself. It was nothing out of the ordinary, for Voidster. His runs often left him in a state of high energy and excitement, and he was naturally possessive of his mate. What was strange, was how the lich did not respond to the large monster at his back, his stiffness at Voidster’s embrace a slight but unmistakable rejection of the male’s attentions.

 

Voidster closed his parted jaws, and glanced down at G’s face. The lich was staring solemnly out the window, ignoring him. He must still be upset about the girl. Sighing, Voidster dipped his face, resting it on the lich’s bony shoulder. **[Sulking does not suit you,]** he murmured, his claws pricking G’s skin as he extended them. **[I’ll have a surprise for you later. Something that will make up for the annoyance my pet has caused you.]**

 

At this, the white eyes of the lich glanced toward him. His slight reaction was disappointing, but Voidster was confident that this offering would provoke more than a simple glance on his mate’s part. He intended for it to be perfect in every way, and G would not even suspect what it was until he revealed it.

 

Kissing the bare shoulder of the lich, Voidster released him, letting the hoodie settle back over his mate’s scarred skin. Now that his morning routine was finished, it was time to go find the pets.

 

***

 

**[Bathe her and dress her in proper clothing.]**

 

Spot reflexively flinched as a package was tossed toward her, presumably containing the clothing Voidster wanted Doll to wear. Scowling, she nudged it away from their breakfast, while the other woman stared at it as if it might be dangerous. “She’s not actually a doll, Voidster. She should get to choose what she wants to wear.”

 

He smirked. **[Do you doubt I have failed to provide her a suitable outfit? See for yourself if she objects, before complaining to me about it. If she doesn’t want to wear it, she doesn’t have to.]** With that he stalked off, leaving Spot confused and uncertain. Why was he suddenly acting reasonable? And why was he giving Doll a choice now, when before he had acted as if she were too stupid or helpless to even tell him what her real name was? It couldn’t actually be “Doll.”

 

She was startled by a slight tug at the sleeve of her pajamas. “Hmm?” She turned toward the other woman, who was pointing at the package.

  
“Is that for me?”

 

“Well, yes. But you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to-”

 

She sighed, as Doll ignored her words and carefully opened the wrapping paper, revealing a beautiful scarlet dress. The color looked well against her pale skin and dark hair, her black eyes shining with excitement as she covertly stroked the soft fabric. It was feminine and delicate, with sheer lace accenting it, and would fall just below Doll’s knees when worn. And there was no question now. The girl looked absolutely ecstatic at the gift, and Spot couldn’t really blame her. It was a beautiful dress, and from Voidster, a bizarrely thoughtful gift.

 

“Wait,” she said sheepishly, as Doll made to undress in the dining room, then and there. “Why don’t I draw a bath for you first, then we can get you all dressed up in your new clothes?”

  
“Alright,” Doll replied a bit breathlessly, removing tiny ruby ear drops, along with a delicate gold necklace that matched both the earrings and the dress. There were no shoes, which Spot found a bit odd, but knowing Voidster, he had likely forgotten that humans did things like wear shoes.

 

She hoped he wasn’t planning on taking Doll anywhere public. The girl was sweet, but clearly fragile, and Spot remained firm in her belief that where she really belonged was in a decent hospital, like G’s. Not as a pet or a toy for Voidster to entertain himself with. She knew that neither of the men would listen though, despite G’s clear dislike for Doll. He wouldn’t expose their private life by taking a woman his mate had kidnapped to his own hospital, or any other. At best he would probably drop her off in an alley somewhere.

 

Doll was watching her with eerie intensity, and Spot felt a chill run down her spine. “Alright,” she said, “Wait until you see how big the bath is.”

 

***

 

G forced himself to begin work, despite the late start and his alcohol-laden breakfast. He would go mad if he spent the day wondering what machinations Voidster was up to this time. The thought of being placated by some asinine “gift” was irritating, and he didn’t intend to acquiesce easily unless his mate had gone to real effort this time. He had heard the soft voices of the women as they wandered through the house, and rubbed at his temple, trying not to get distracted.

 

Of course both of the other “guests” in HIS house were happy enough to welcome another one. It seemed nobody cared what he thought anymore. He couldn’t blame Spot for enjoying the company of her own kind, but it still aggravated him that both she and Voidster were coddling the broken human as if G had given his permission for her to stay, which he hadn’t.

 

He heard the bathwater running, and further soured. Of course, now it must be given proper baths upstairs, the downstairs facility was no longer good enough. Soon it would be sleeping in his bed or under his desk, and he would be blamed for not being welcome enough of another parasitic-

 

A wild, terrified scream interrupted his thoughts, and he instinctively bolted upright, leaping out of his chair and snapping the door of his study open as he rushed toward the sound. Voidster had reacted similarly, and took the stairs up from the basement two at a time as both monsters hurried toward the persistent, hoarse cries that were coming from the bathroom. They both halted as they saw Spot in the doorway, before Voidster cursed and grabbed hold of her, dragging her out of the way. She hit the wall behind them with a thud, cursing as the men crowded into the doorway.

 

Doll had collapsed in front of the bath, clawing at her face in anguish and terror as she stared at the rippling water. “She’s in the water,” she moaned, pressing herself as far from the bath as she could get. “Please...don’t make me…” She began panting, unable to breathe properly, her face as white as a sheet. G and Voidster stared at her, at a loss, when Spot shoved her way through, crouching at Doll’s side.

 

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured, rubbing the other woman’s back, and blocking her view of the bath. “Do you want a shower instead? I thought you would like this, I didn’t know, I’m sorry.”

 

Doll shuddered under her touch, rocking back and forth as she gasped for breath. “Put the water away, Mother, will you put the water away? I don’t like it-” She keened, then looked up and saw Voidster. Weeping, she crawled toward him, wrapping her frail hands around his ankle. “Help,” she murmured, then fell still, having fainted from the strain. Voidster stared down at her, then at the bath, then at Spot.

 

When G finally spoke, it startled the others. “An interesting fear to have...of standing water.”

 

He turned, leaving his scowling mate and Spot behind as he returned to his study. Sighing, Voidster bent and gathered Doll in his arms, still wrapped in her hospital gown. A pair of summoned hands gathered the package with the dress and jewelry up, following him as he took her with him down into the basement. Spot was left alone with the bath, and too many questions in her mind to give voice to.

 

***

 

I awoke to the sound of soft humming. A deep, pleasant and melodious voice. My Angel. Blinking, I realized that my skin was dewy, damp from moisture, and I wore unfamiliar clothing. I had been bathed and dressed, while I slept.

 

Crimson poured like blood over my skin, and cool metal hung at my earlobes and neck. I was wearing lace panties as well, an unfamiliar sensation after so many nights of being bare in my hospital gown. It left me uneasy.

 

The humming stopped, and I felt a pang of regret at its loss, but opened my eyes fully, and met Voidster’s gaze. “Why was I asleep?” I asked in confusion, turning my head to watch his movements. He toyed with something above my head, then fell still.

 

**[You don’t remember? Interesting.]**

 

It did not answer my question, and I felt a moment of frustration. How much time had I lost? We were in a strange room, one I did not recognize. Velvet drapes hung from ceiling over the walls, and the floor was polished wood. I lay on a strangely sized bed, which was draped from top to bottom in white silk. My dress stood out starkly on the white, like blood on snow. Candles lit the darkness, painful spots of brightness in the shadows that flickered and danced.

 

“Where...am I?”

 

He shrugged, stepping away from the bed and returning with something in his hand. A syringe. I felt my pulse begin to skip, but I didn’t move. I could trust him. This wasn’t the hospital. He wouldn’t hurt me. He was my Angel.

 

Expressionlessly, he held out his hand. I tentatively placed my arm in it, submitting to his will. A faint smile graced his lips, then it was gone. A curiously intense expression took its place, and he delicately inserted the needle into a blue vein, not spilling even a drop of blood when he withdrew it. I felt a slight warmth, but nothing else. I didn’t ask what he had injected.

 

Moments passed, and my skin felt flush, droplets of sweat rising to the surface as I let out my breath in a soft pant, and brushed the back of my hand against my forehead. My skin was strangely sensitive, my nerves alight with new sensations as I suddenly became acutely aware of the plush fabric of the dress resting on my thighs and against my breasts. My nipples became hard, and I tentatively reached toward them, when my hand was taken back. I glanced up at my master.

 

 **[This is not a punishment,]** he said strangely, catching my other wrist and bringing them both above my head. I heard the sound of metal, and quickly looked up, staring as he shackled my arms above my head. The cuff that bound my wrists together was lined with padded satin, and did not pull uncomfortably at my shoulders, but left me feeling oddly vulnerable. He adjusted the length of the chain, and it slackened. I was able to nearly bring my hands down into my lap.

 

 **[Lie down, pet,]** he ordered, and I did. My cheek rested on a plush pillow, also draped in white silk. The shifting of my body left me aware of a growing slickness between my thighs, a heat that could not be contained, and began to smolder in my belly. A faint whimper escaped my lips, and when he dipped his hand between my legs, I found my hips bucking forward, thrusting my crotch into his warm claws as he chuckled. **[The ‘medicine’ I gave you is working. Good. This will be a special night for you, my dear.]**

 

“It will?” I echoed softly. The shadows were distracting. In them I saw visions of memories and faces that held no meaning for me. Why did they haunt me? I could bring them no peace, nor myself. I was brought back by a clawed digit pressing up against my folds through the dress and underwear that sheathed me. I made another small sound, tears pricking my eyes. It felt indescribable. Electric and warm, pleasurable, intense, and I wanted more.

 

 **[Oh, you will have more...soon enough,]** he said, and I realized I had begged aloud. A flush of embarrassment spread over my cheeks, and I averted my eyes. I did not want to seem wanton or immodest. Desire rarely sparked in me like this, especially since the bandages were wrapped around my head. So much had changed, and yet so little. My thoughts wandered.

 

Voidster stepped back, folding his arms and surveying my prone form. **[G won’t be able to help himself,]** he said with satisfaction, reaching out to gently adjust the bandages that still wrapped my head. My head spun. He was going to give me to that angry man, the one that hated me? He would destroy me. I remembered my silent promise to the angel that I would do whatever he bade me, without resistance, but tears still slipped down my cheeks.

 

 **[Now, now,]** he chided, **[Tears will do nothing to dissuade him, pet, nor myself. You’ll still be alive come morning, but no longer a virgin. It’s time that was discarded. It stands between my mate and I, poisoning our bond. You will submit to him as you always have to me. You have no choice.]**

 

His voice was soothing, but the words were not, and I trembled slightly in the bed, watching as he paused and indulged in one long caress down the length of my extended body. I leaned into his touch, my eyes begging him, but he did not heed me. “Please,” I whispered, “My Angel, will you not take me yourself?”

 

He smiled coolly, without compassion or comfort. **[I think not. G suspects that you have some sort of unnatural hold on me. What you want is not important. I am the master, and you are merely a human. You will accept what I give you.]**

 

I bowed my head, letting my tears fall onto the silk beneath my cheek. The heat beneath my skin made me shudder, the warmth in my belly pushing me to accept this, to accept the relief of any man in my bed. My Angel had poisoned me with desire, like a fairy tale curse, and only that I might be a more enjoyable gift to the one that he truly loved. He would not even deign to take me himself. He did not want me. The rejection stung more than I had realized.

 

 **[Be a good girl,]** he cooed down at me, rubbing a thumb over my cheekbone. **[I will return shortly.]**

 

***

 

The lich was brooding in his study, a tumbler of scotch in one hand as he stared into the darkness. Voidster often had no idea what his mate thought about when he surrounded himself with shadows and drowned himself in alcohol, but he had an idea, now. G didn’t trust him, was suspicious of the “surprise” Voidster had offered. He likely suspected it had something to do with Doll, but Voidster doubted that his mate truly understood the extent to which Voidster was catering to his desires, tonight. Ah well, he would soon enough.

 

He spent a moment in the doorframe, waiting for the lich’s eyes to flick toward him. He knew that his own purple eyes cast an eerie light over his backlit face, and stalked forward into the darkness, kneeling down to wrap his arms around G. **[Are you ready for your surprise?]** he murmured, placing one hand subtly on the lich’s thigh as the other brushed its knuckles against that scarred, weary face.

 

G grimaced, tossing back the rest of the scotch in a single, experienced swallow. “You have spent all day in the basement. I am in no mood for a new test subject, or a recalibrated experiment. If you want to put that broken creature on the rack, perhaps you’ll catch my interest….”

 

Gently, Voidster tilted the lich’s face toward his own, claiming G’s lips in sensual kiss. The tips of their tongues briefly met, a thin shimmering line of spittle connecting them as they parted. **[Trust me,]** Voidster purred, the hand on G’s thigh creeping upward push against his stirring manhood, **[You will enjoy this.]**

 

Slowly, the lich pushed out from his desk, standing with his mate at his side. He was uncomfortably aroused, somewhat drunk, and feeling the slow smolder of morbid interest in himself now. “Very well,” he murmured, forced to pause as sharp claws pricked at his hipbones and held him in place, Voidster rubbing his erection against G’s well-formed rear. Voidster panted against the monster in his arms, then forced himself to release the other man. He wanted G aroused, but if he worked himself up too much, they would never make it downstairs.

 

He followed behind the lich as he sauntered to the closet that held the secret entrance to their laboratory, closing the door behind them. Tiny lights illuminated the steep staircase as they descended, the lower door admitting them into the laboratory itself.

 

Here, Voidster took the lead, for unless G remembered his rut, he would not remember the location of this room. He hoped that subconscious memories would not make this an uncomfortable experience for the lich, but it had truly been the best option for such a ‘gift.’ Away from the prying eyes of the human they kept upstairs, in a room designed to muffle sound and enhance sensual pleasure. No interruptions or other inconveniences.  
  
  
***   
  
  
When they entered the room, draped with blood red velvet curtains, G glanced around suspiciously. He had a sense of familiarity, yet he had never been here, he was sure of it. The floor was polished to a soft sheen beneath his bare feet, and it took him some time to realize that there was a third occupant in the room.

 

He glanced up, then stared at the bed draped in white silk, the fabric spilling onto the ground in excess, framing the small figure that lay upon it, like blood against snow. He had no doubt that Voidster had planned with certain imagery in mind. The man appreciated symbolism, and must have intended the dress to represent the virginal blood of the girl who lay, tethered by her wrists to the wall.

 

“What is this?” G growled, taking a few steps nearer the girl on the bed, then halting. She did not even look at him, but stared pleadingly at Voidster, her wide black eyes full of betrayal and pain. The lich parted his maw, and could not help but inhale the fresh scent of her skin, and the rising smell of her arousal through the thin cloth that was draped over her fragile body. “You drugged her?”

 

 **[Merely something to enhance the experience,]** his mate responded with a shrug. **[She cannot respond as most women, she is too lost in her own mind to feel sexual desire without a little help.]**

 

“Did you bring me here to watch you defile her?” G asked in disgust, about to turn and leave. A firm, clawed hand on his shoulder stopped him, a low chuckle causing him to glance over his shoulder.

 

 **[Why love, you should know me better than that. This is a gift for** **_you_ ** **after all. The girl’s virginity does not interest me as does her mind. For your...tolerance...of my distraction, it’s only fair that you claim the right of her virginal blood. Let her please you as she has pleased me. You are my mate, and your desires come before those of a damaged human whore.]**

 

G observed Doll’s reaction to these words, tears leaking from her eyes as she moaned and tried to turn away. He was truly breaking her heart, remorselessly, and without a care for her emotions. Perhaps he truly had remembered what his priorities should be. Glancing at Voidster, who had taken a seat in the corner of the room, he approached the bed. It was well sized for a monster, much larger than the frail hospital beds they used for their subjects. That must be why Voidster had chosen this room.

 

Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. He could see the blue veins along her arms and throat, pumping blood through that fragile body. Drool welled in his jaws, and he swallowed, reaching out a tentative claw to touch the ruby necklace that hung at her throat. She trembled, but did not pull away.

 

He was already painfully hard, thanks to Voidster’s earlier teasing, and the site of such a delicate bloom presented so appealingly. He imagined her blood staining the white silk, and inhaled shakily, his claws twitching as he sat on the side of the bed. “Look at me, little dove,” he commanded, and hesitantly she glanced up at him, the black orbs of her pupils filled with resentment. So, there was fire there after all. He knew just how to play with that.

 

Panting slightly, he crawled over her on the bed, his knee nudging her legs apart so that he could settle between them, letting his heated groin rest against the juncture of her thighs as she shuddered, unable to help the whimper that slid across his skin like silk. He left his hoodie on, letting the fabric drape over her as she stared up at him almost defiantly. It blocked her view of Voidster, and that was preferable for him. Having her stare at his mate like a lovelorn lamb was off-putting.

 

Her face only reached his collarbones, and he shifted downward slightly, tasting her skin in a long, needy lap against her throat. Her eyes closed, and he felt her thighs shift against him, involuntarily pressing herself to him. When he raised his head, the last thing he expected was a sudden, rage-filled lunge toward his own throat, her teeth clamping down on his hide with surprising strength.

 

She twisted her head like a feral dog trying to tear out the throat of her enemy, and he began to have an idea of why she had not been victimized in the hospital. A dark chuckle rose from his chest as he let her movements further spark his arousal. After several seconds of vicious biting, she released his throat, staring up at him with confusion, and now, fear. He smiled down at her, not at all reassuringly. “What a vicious little bitch,” he murmured with amusement, pressing one of his knees between her legs as she moaned and tilted her head back. “It’s no wonder you were lobotomized, with such violent responses.”

 

 _“Fuck you,”_ she spat at him, a moment of clarity seeming to strike her at his words. “I’ll...I’ll kill you. You’ll bleed like all the rest.”

 

“Hmm, I think not,” he responded with amusement, dragging his claws down the front of her pretty dress. The fabric parted like flesh beneath his talons, the tips brushing her chest and belly in a terrifying reminder of what he was, before he tore the ruined garment from her body. He saw her twist to gaze helplessly at Voidster, and followed her gaze. His mate was sitting calmly in the chair, returning her desperation with disinterest and cold humor.

 

**[As I said, you are merely a human. Nothing you can do will save you from the lust of a feral beast. Fight him as much as you wish. It only brings him greater excitement.]**

 

Interesting. This seemed almost personal for Voidster, as if he were taking revenge on Doll for something, or punishing her. But these thoughts were fleeting, for G could feel the heat between her legs beckoning him, his ferality seeping into his blood like the aphrodisiac that Voidster must have given her. She would be so slick and tight, inside….

 

His vertebrae rolled beneath the surface of his hoodie, his back arched as he dove for her throat, gathering the delicate flesh in his jaws and lashing it with his tongue. She snarled at him, and it sent a shiver of excitement down his spine. Finally, finally she was fighting back. No longer the limp, placid doll. Whatever Voidster had given her had awoken some of the latent violence in this soft, broken little human. G quivered with arousal and anticipation, one clawed hand diving toward his groin to unbutton his trousers, shoving them down just enough to expose himself.

 

When she moved as if to lash out at his throat again, G growled; a deep, throaty noise that made the bed vibrate, and the human beneath him hesitate. Her blown pupils stared up into his white eyes, each of them panting in exertion and arousal, each of them trembling with stimulation.

 

“I’ll kill you,” she breathed, and he knew that she meant it. In the deepest, darkest core of her being, she wanted nothing more than to destroy him. He felt no fear, only dark amusement at the violence in this formerly docile creature, and wondered how she would change, once the hymenal tissue had been ripped through. He was rather intrigued by this new side of her.

 

He gathered the delicate golden necklace in his claws, pretending to admire it before yanking it from her neck. She winced as the metal snapped, and he sneered down at her. “Such adornments are better than a creature like you deserves.” He fingered the black metal collar that ringed her throat, and used it to tug her head backward, forcing her back against the mattress. “The jewelry of slaves suits you best, my dear. For you are nothing...but a possession.”

 

His dark shaft rested temptingly against her swollen folds. He could feel the heat and moisture even through the silken panties she wore. A last effort at modesty that he knew Voidster had added only to tantalize him. It was working. “Your body craves me,” he murmured, grinning eerily down at the hateful stare she threw him. “It longs for my cock to sink within you, deflowering you, rendering your womanhood in full. Your “angel” will not have you. Tonight you are...mine.”

 

She murmured something, it sounded like a name, and then; “...this is the price I pay for your forgiveness.” A deep flush rose in her pale cheeks, and she stared at him with a level of hatred he had never seen in any living creature. “Do your worst, demon. Give me your pain, your anger, your lust. You’re broken just like me, and we’ll shatter in each other’s reflections if we stay too long. Break with me.”

 

He stared at her. “Shut up!” he snarled, pulling his hand back and striking her across the face. In the corner of his eye, he saw Voidster half-standing, as though to intervene, then forcing himself to sit back down. his claws clasping the arms of the chair as if for dear life. G turned back to Doll, ripping the panties from her hips with one easy movement. He would bring this bitch to heel, and never let her forget this night. She was unnatural and damaged. What better creature to master her than a lord of the undead; a lich.

 

He raised his palm to his face, his eyes never leaving hers as he lavished the skin with his saliva, a soaking hot fluid that dripped plentifully from his fingers. He snorted as he dropped his hand to his manhood, slathering it until it was slick and swollen. He had waited long enough. His free hand flung forward, pressing her shoulder into the mattress until she whimpered in pain, keeping her still beneath him. Her legs scrambled against his sharp hips, the heels of her feet pushing against him until they slipped, and he plunged forward.

 

The tip of his cock pressed against her entrance, and the sound she made was almost like an animal dying, as if he had speared her heart instead of her cunt. He forced his way forward, working inches inside of her until he reached that sweet, fragile barrier. Greasy drops of precum slathered within her, his shaft twitching and pulsing with the depth of his extreme arousal.

 

He exhaled slowly, the heat of his breath washing across her tear-streaked face, and then he bucked his hips forward, feeling the membrane tear as she groaned and arched beneath him. It was difficult to hold himself back from climax at such a moment, but he wanted to savor this. No matter what male claimed her afterward, at this moment, she was, and always would be, his. He was the first, and he snarled his victory to the room, hoarding her beneath him as his toes curled and his claws dug into her shoulder and the blankets.

 

Shuddering, he nudged himself forward further, until he felt the tip of his manhood brush her cervix. He had finally done it. Drool slipped from his parted jaws and pattered onto her pale skin as he withdrew, only to ram his hips back against hers in a harsh thrust, which drew a ragged scream from her throat. Dimly, he was aware of Voidster pacing, panting, staring at the two of them. He nudged his hips into her proudly, showing off his privilege, his right, his power over this virgin female.

 

Ferality had wound through his veins, and he didn’t fight it, letting desire burn away the last of his conscious mind. She was too low to reach, for him to gather her throat in his jaws and keep her still. Instead he pressed her face against the pillow with one hand, the other tucking beneath her hips to arch her back and provide him better access.

 

She was tight, so tight. Her walls resisted every movement that he gave her, and yet the drugs that Voidster had injected her with forced her body to accept him, to crave the harsh, uncaring thrusts he gave her. He glanced down, and saw the crimson stains upon the white silk under her thighs. His spine shivered, and he gave a ragged groan at the sight, throwing forward so harshly that she was shoved against the mattress with bruising force.

 

He felt her muscles winding against him as his cock brushed her sweet spots again and again, growing a building arousal in her belly that he could feel. He slowed his pace only slightly, but it was enough that she began to whimper, twisting under him in pleasure as he pushed her further and further. When she finally tipped over the edge, she was silent, except for a deep, shuddering exhale, that tore through her lungs like he had torn through her hymen. It was followed by sweet whimpers of bliss, and he felt her body vibrate like a plucked bowstring.

 

Giving a few more, lasting thrusts, he soon followed her into climax, spilling his burning essence within her to coat her walls and ooze out of her abused folds. She gave a soft moan of discomfort, but that soon was washed away, as his seed numbed and soothed her pain. Black mixed with the crimson of her virginal blood, and he stroked the stains on her thighs almost tenderly as she began to weep.

 

He saw his mate turn, as if to speak to him, but raised one hand to stave him off, stumbling out of the room. He left the bleeding, crying girl behind with Voidster, who stared after him as he made his way up the stairs, out of the laboratory, and into his bedroom, where he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. His eyes were glossy, feral, and the blood of the girl was smeared against his thighs.

 

Breathing hard, he allowed himself a few moments to bask in the intense afterglow that flooded his body. A worthy prize, after all. He hadn’t known she would fight him like that, or that Voidster would find himself desperate to intervene. He snorted. His mate was still infatuated with the girl, that much was clear. Whatever he had tried to prove by giving her virginity to the lich, it had meant nothing when he began pacing the room in a state of high anxiety, his desire to protect her obvious.

 

And yet, Voidster had refrained. He had let G scare her, wound her, rape her. He had stayed in the room, a silent affirmation that he was allowing this. Letting his pet see that she was not invulnerable to his whims, any more than she was to his mate. Perhaps it was acceptable...for now. He turned to the shower, letting the scent of fresh water and steam wash over him before stepping under the spray.

 

He would wait and see what happened next. It was fair, considering what Voidster had given him tonight. A temporary reprieve; that was all he would allow. He had not been sufficiently impressed that he would grant that broken, violent creature sanctuary within his house.


	8. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I'm not in love, I'm not in love_  
>  And there will be no future tense for us  
> I cannot lie, I know it isn't right to want you  
> Most of the time I stop myself from trying to touch you
> 
>  
> 
> _I'm magnetized, I'm magnetized_  
>  I'm magnetized, I'm magnetized by you

She lay limp and unresisting as he uncuffed her wrists, easing her down against the bloody sheets. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes half-lidded as she allowed him to gather her violated body in his arms. A bruise was already forming from the lich striking her face, along with shallow cuts from his claws. Bruises peppered her hips and shoulder as well, like delicate purple blossoms against her pale skin.

 

Her arm fell lifelessly to her side as he carried her to the shower, leaving the discarded remnants of the clothing behind. Setting her gently on the floor, he rolled up his shirt sleeves and picked her up again. He turned the shower on a gentle spray, warm water splashing over her cool skin, his claws lathering soap over her bloody thighs. Sensually, he brushed his hands under her breasts, his thumbs rubbing over her pink nipples as she moaned and writhed in his hands.

 

“Why?” she groaned, flinching away as his gentle hands brushed over her torn and bruised vulva. He shushed her, brushing his temple against her bandaged one in an unconscious gesture of affection that he normally only shared with G. Steam cascaded over their bodies, leaving gentle droplets on their skin that disappeared like teardrops in rain.

 

He paused, easing her upward and answering her question with one of his own. **[Why do you think I let him have you, pet?]**

 

She moaned again, lying passively in his arms. “I was bad. I didn’t save her. The bath. Bad thoughts. I cut her face...so much blood.”

 

He frowned slightly, shifting her in his arms. **[I told you at the start that it wasn’t a punishment. Did you think that I had lied to you?]**

 

She stared at him, face pale. It was clear the thought hadn’t occurred to her, that by assuming what had happened was a punishment, she was accusing him of lying to her. “N-no,” she whispered, turning her head fitfully away. “I don’t understand....”

 

He gently unwound the wet bandages from her head, noting the yellow color of the bruising. It was healing well. At this point he would have removed the bandages permanently, but he worried that the shock of seeing the massive scar on her face would set off another bout of hysteria. For now, he would replace them once she was dry.

 

 **[For your lack of faith in me, Doll, I will have to punish you,]** he murmured, and she looked back at him, her face almost desperate.

 

“Punish me,” she pleaded, “Dig the worm out, and the rotten parts it left behind, cleanse me. I’m so ugly inside. Fix me.”

 

He couldn’t deny the effect her words had on him. Punishment was something of a speciality of his. To be asked, no _begged,_ to punish her, stirred in him a faint arousal. He imagined her too-thin body strapped to the rack, his belt in his hand, leaving maroon welts on her milky skin. Tears and drool slipping from her face as she wept, helpless.

 

Clearing his throat, he refocused on his task, turning the water off and taking a plush towel from a summoned hand to wrap around her body. He carried her bridal style back to her room, gently patting her with the towel. He wound fresh gauze around her shaven head, which was quickly growing out into soft inches of brown hair. She didn’t seem to notice, or care about her appearance at all.

 

 **[Tonight your punishment is to stay here, alone.]** He said it remorselessly, ignoring the slight flinch that followed. It told him only that it was an effective punishment. She didn’t like being by herself. The lock had not been repaired, but he doubted she would disobey him. And if she did, at worst she would have free roam of the basement. Unlike G, he kept his work things locked away, so it was unlikely she would find anything dangerous.

 

She was staring at her feet, twisting the fresh gown in her hands. Seriously, he tilted her head upward, forcing her to meet his eyes. **[Tell me why you are being punished.]**

 

“I called the Angel a liar,” she whispered, shaking slightly as he nodded in approval.

 

**[I am not angry at you, my dear. I do this for your benefit, alone. You must learn to trust me completely, or I will be disappointed in you. You can do better than this.]**

 

She nodded, her dark eyes filling with tears as tenderly swiped under her lids with his thumb. **[Now, don’t cry. It’s not such a terrible punishment. As for your sins before you came into my care...I will ponder how best to address these. For it is clear you will not know peace until they are resolved.]** Her expression turned hopeful, and he ran his claws through her soft, growing hair.

 

 **[Now go to sleep. Your body needs to heal, and your mind needs to rest. I will come for you in the morning as I always do.]** He stood, folding his arms and gazing down at her as she lay obediently on her side, tugging the blanket over her worn body. G had not been gentle with her, not at all. She would be sore in the morning, more than she was now. Part of him was irritated at the lich’s rough treatment of such a fragile girl, but it had been part of the risk when he had given her to his mate.

 

He turned off the light, and shut the door behind him, lost in his thoughts as he ascended the stairs.

  
  
***

  
  
Spot was waiting for him.   
  
  
  
“Where’s Doll?” she asked uneasily, glancing over his shoulder as if she might be behind him.

 

 **[In her room. Where she belongs,]** Voidster answered curtly, pushing Spot aside none too gently. He felt her staring at his back and sighed, turning and raising a brow.

 

“I saw G when he came upstairs,” she finally admitted, a slight flush rising on her cheeks. “He didn’t see me. His pants were undone, and there was blood…” She frowned. “Something about him seemed wrong.”

 

Voidster shrugged irritably. **[It’s nothing to do with you, and none of your concern. The girl belongs to me, and I will do with her as I please.]** He saw the flicker of understanding in Spot’s eyes, and silently cursed his carelessness as she leapt forward.

 

“What did you two do to her?! She’s like a child, she can’t _consent_ to things like-” she choked, and he smirked, leaning toward her.

 

 **[Like what? Consent is for free humans, which is something I have told you many times now. Yes, I gave her to the lich to deflower. He so enjoys virgins…]** He trailed off, his smirk growing wider at the horror on Spot’s face. **[Always so shocking for you when his true nature is revealed, isn’t it my dear? That’s why I’m his mate, and you’re just a pet, no matter how you yearn for his heart.]**

 

Tears glittered in her eyes; his words had struck home. He knew that she felt some pitiful, misunderstood love for his mate. It was obvious from the way she defended him against Voidster, tried to care for him, and spent hours by his side under the pretense of reading. He knew enough about human psychology to label it, even. Stockholm Syndrome. Unfortunately for her, the lich did not return her feelings, but she remained stubbornly attached to him as if he still had some scrap of goodness left in that cracked and damaged soul of his.

 

He knew that G had tried to get her to leave, for her own safety, and that Spot had refused. His mate had told him later, musing on the perverse nature of humans. Even then, the lich was oblivious to the human pet’s obvious affection for him. She would no sooner willingly leave his side, than Doll would leave Voidster’s. Human women were weak, and prone to emotional attachment to strong males. They simply couldn’t help themselves.

 

 **[If you want, I’ll be happy to lock you in the basement to keep her company.]** His eyes glittered maliciously. **[The screaming doesn’t bother Doll, but it might make it difficult for you to sleep. Don’t forget how privileged you are, pet. I’d hate to have to train you, for you are far less malleable than she is, which only makes the process more** **_painful.]_ **

 

Trembling, Spot backed away, her hand over her mouth as she gulped down tears. Finally, she spun on her heel and ran, away to the room she had claimed for herself. Voidster scoffed, watching her nightgown flutter as she rounded the corner and disappeared. He should fuck her again, soon. Doll had been a lovely little distraction, but Spot was growing much too bold to think that Voidster should answer to her. A little domination, a little pain, was what was needed. Remind her who was the dominant male in this household. It would also scratch the itch that had built at his fantasy of punishing Doll.

 

Growling softly to himself, he turned in the other direction and made his way to the room he shared with G. The lich was still awake, which was surprising, but he was simply lying in bed, freshly showered and staring at the wall. Voidster did a double take when he realized his mate’s eyes were open, and paused. **[Why are you still awake?]**

 

His mate rolled onto his back, side-eyeing Voidster. “I wanted to speak with you.”

 

Voidster grimaced. Those words rarely preluded something pleasant. Still, he sat down, placing his hand on the sharp hip of the lich, which protruded even beneath the blanket. The scent of scotch wafted into his jaws, and he raised a brow. **[You’re drunk.]** _Again,_ his mind added, but he didn’t say it out loud. He didn’t want to antagonize G, after going to such lengths to placate him.

 

“What are you going to do with the girl?” This again.

 

Irritably, Voidster stood, gesturing with a hand as he spoke. **[I don’t know. What** **_should_ ** **I do with the girl, G? Dissect her? Keep her in the basement as a fuck toy? Return her to the human hospital I had stolen her from? Why is everyone so goddamned concerned with this one damaged human that caught my fancy?]**

 

G’s lips quirked as he watched his mate’s tirade, before those smoldering violet eyes caught his amused gaze, and narrowed. **[What?]**

 

“You can do what you wish with her,” the lich answered, stretching and yawning. “You know there’s a possibility she may die. Some humans that undergo such surgery live unusually short lifespans. Her soul is dim. But never place her welfare before my own, or our pet. Keep her if you want. But if she interferes with our lives beyond my limited tolerance, I will kill her.”

 

 **[You** **_have_ ** **no tolerance for her,]** Voidster snapped, snatching up a throw pillow and rending it in two. **[She could look at you askance and you’d consider that reason enough to slit her throat-]**

 

‘-I will be fair,” G interrupted, holding up his hand. “You can even keep her upstairs. We have an abundance of empty rooms. But you must continue work on our original projects. She must not harm our human. She cannot harm us, though she tried when I was above her.” He rubbed at the grey indentations on his hide from her vicious biting. “She’s unpredictable. If she attacks the human, she dies. If she places our home at risk, she dies. Train her well, if you want to keep her. Consider it a test of your skill, as well as her obedience to you. Do you agree, or do you have so little faith in those two things that you cannot?”

 

He was trapped. Voidster had complete faith in his ability to master this girl, as well as her devotion to him. What he didn’t trust, were the sudden outbursts she seemed to have no way of controlling. None of them had been violent, save the attack against G, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be, eventually. Still, it was a better deal than he’d thought to get from the lich.

 

 **[Fine,]** he said shortly, undressing and slipping under the covers. He lay turned away from his mate, irritated, but soon felt those tattered arms slipping up around his chest. Begrudgingly, he laced his fingers with G’s, pressing back against the lich, who rumbled slightly in contentment. It was hard to remain angry when his mate was imitating a large, contented cat, and eventually Voidster heaved a sigh, tangling his legs with G’s. **[It seems that you enjoyed yourself tonight.]**

 

The lich sighed, a sound of pure contentment, before nuzzling against Voidster’s throat. “Mmn, yes. It has been so long since I was offered a virgin. We all have our sinful indulgences, do we not?” A smile curved Voidster’s lips, turning around to catch G’s mouth with his own.

 

 **[We do. I’m putting her on the rack tomorrow. Not in the way you had intended, but it should hold her well against the blows from my belt. She yearns for catharsis, much as you do, my dear.]** He smirked at the lich’s slight scowl, being compared to Doll, and planted a delicate kiss on his lips. **[I will never enjoy punishing anyone as much as I do yourself, my love. But it is, as you said, one of my...sinful indulgences.]**

 

He was reminded, suddenly, of Spot’s earlier insolence. **[And speaking of punishment, the pet needs to be reminded of her place. She was watching when you came up the stairs, half-undressed and smeared with blood,]** he said with amusement. **[It seems she feels more protective of the doll than I do. Shall I remind her, or will you?]**

 

G grimaced, his expression further souring. “You do it. You take more pleasure in hurting her than I do. If that is needful, it’s better that someone with enthusiasm for the job perform it.”

 

 **[Speaking of enthusiasm for the job…]** he rocked his hips back against G’s stirring manhood, reaching behind him to feel the hardening shaft. **[I believe only one of us received satisfaction tonight.]**

 

G huffed out a reluctant laugh, his arms tightening around his lover. “And you cannot wait until Spot’s punishment, tomorrow?”

  
  
**[Hmn, let us say perhaps, that I simply do not** **_wish_ ** **to wait,]** Voidster suggested, slipping out of G’s arms and climbing onto the other man’s back.

 

“ _Voidster,_ ” the lich tried, but he couldn’t keep the amusement out of his voice.

 

 **[A good start, but next time, wait until you’re cumming,]** his mate suggested, a wicked smile on his face as he began to tug down the lich’s boxers.


	9. Broken

 

G yawned as he sauntered into the kitchen for breakfast. He had awoken to the scent of coffee brewing, strong and dark, and his mouth watered for a cup. A quick flick of his white eyes registered the two girls standing by the dishes, Doll solemnly handing them to Spot, who was putting them away. Without saying a word, he cleared his throat, and held out his hand. Spot would know what he wanted.

 

Just as expected, she picked up his favorite coffee cup. Then she paused, and turned around. That look on her face...he wouldn’t quite call it hatred, but she was very clearly furious with him. Without a word, she extended her arm and dropped the mug on the floor, the lich wincing as it shattered into pieces. “Oops,” Spot said sweetly, staring directly into his eyes. “I guess I shouldn’t break things that _aren’t mine.”_

 

G stared at her, utterly shocked. Was she talking about Doll? The back of his mind nudged a memory forward, Voidster saying that Spot had seen him coming upstairs...damn. She really _was_ pissed. Where was all this spite coming from? She had never bothered defending herself against either of the monsters, but now that he had had his way with Doll, she was angry? Two likely explanations presented themselves to him. Either she was menstruating, or…

 

“Are you jealous?” he asked seriously.

 

 _“JEALOUS?!”_ she screeched, staring at him in disbelief and a now decidedly murderous expression. “My god G, you are the most oblivious, thick-headed, inconsiderate-”

 

_CRASH_

 

They both jumped as another dish crashed to the floor, this time a plate. Doll was standing over it, peering down at the shattered pieces. “Smash,” she whispered, seeming awed at her new power to destroy ceramic dishware. Gritting her teeth, Spot plastered a smile on her face, and took the next dish out of Doll’s hands, setting it back on the counter.

  
  
“Don’t do that, okay sweetie?”

 

“Okay.”

 

“She’s basically a _child,”_ Spot hissed at G under her breath, while he continued to watch her warily. “And you, you- I can’t believe you. You’re worse than Voidster-”

 

**[Ah, to hear my name spoken with such seething anger, what have you done now, G?]**

 

Voidster sauntered into the room, giving his mate a brief but knowing look. _I told you so,_ that look said. G grimaced. Voidster had been right, Spot was too far out of bounds to be allowed. He was still in shock that she had smashed his favorite coffee mug. _On purpose._ Scowling, he approached the girls, Doll shrinking back while Spot held her ground.

 

“You will not speak to either of us in such a manner,” he growled down at her, baring his fangs. “Voidster is right, you need a lesson in discipline, if you think that such behavior is allowable here, in _my home._ ”

 

“Yet you can rape an innocent girl, who can’t even-”

  
  
“Yes, I _can do whatever I want,”_ he snarled at her, grabbing the back of her hair and forcing her head back, until tears filled her eyes. He bared his fangs, snapping them right before her face as she flinched. “This is _my_ home. You are _human slaves,_ **_not_ ** equal beings.” He paused, yanking her head back harder. “Voidster will see to your punishment for destroying my property. I will permit _whatever he deems appropriate.”_

 

Spot stared at him in horror. Yes, now she began to understand the folly of disrespecting him. He growled, and released her hair, ignoring how Doll cowered in the corner with her hands over her face.

 

Sullenly, Spot turned away from him, her shoulders shaking as she grabbed the broom to sweep up the shattered dishes. She didn’t give a damn if these _monsters_ had a clean house, but she didn’t want Doll to cut herself. She had to admit to herself that G was right. Sometimes it was easy to forget, but neither of the men would ever tolerate such disrespect from her. They viewed her as property, not a person, and wouldn’t hesitate to discipline her after such a show of defiance. She winced, remembering G’s words. She wasn’t looking forward to whatever Voidster had in mind.

 

***

 

Voidster gazed after his mate as he snatched another coffee mug and filled it up, stomping to his study and slamming the door behind him. That left him with Doll, who was still cowering but gazing hopefully up at him, like a kicked dog, and Spot, who was steadfastly ignoring his presence while she cleaned up the mess that had been created.

 

She must be hurting after how hard G had grabbed her. Voidster hadn’t expected the lich to snap so aggressively. He had an unusual tolerance for defiant behavior from women, especially in his deceased mate. Then again, it was never wise to push him before he’d had his first cup of coffee. Or to destroy his favorite mug. The lich was a creature of habit, and Voidster knew he would be irritated for days if not weeks at the loss of the cup he _always_ used.

 

Humming thoughtfully, he watched as Spot finished sweeping the floor, then stood awkwardly in front of him, holding one arm as she leaned back against the counter. Doll stood up, walked over to her, and hugged her tightly, giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek. “He’s always angry,” she said seriously, stroking Spot’s hair. Voidster bit his cheek. He refused to laugh, despite the accuracy of the statement.

 

 **[Now my dear, come down to the basement for a while. Spot was bad, and I must punish her,]** he said smoothly, not missing the slight flinch that the other woman gave, while Doll smiled sweetly at him and took his extended hand. **[You will stay in your room for a little while until I’m finished.]**

 

“Okay,” she agreed, following him placidly down the steps.

 

***

 

Spot paced the length of her room nervously. Voidster would be here any moment. She knew how he delighted in torturing her. Really, he enjoyed torturing anyone, but he seemed to particularly enjoy tormenting Spot. And G let him. This was the first time G had _asked him_ to do it though. And it stung.

 

She realized now that part of the reason she had lashed out at G was because she trusted him. His kindness to her, his gentle nature...she had forgotten what lay beneath that facade. Doll’s violation had felt like a betrayal. The G that she knew wouldn’t have raped an innocent woman like that, would he?

 

 _He rapes you,_ her mind whispered, and she shuddered, tears rolling down her cheeks. _He’s not a good person. He never was. At least, not after Sun died. He’s just gentler than Voidster, and that made you forget. You wanted to believe that there was another person in this place who wasn’t a...monster. Not just a monster, but monstrous. He hurts people. That’s what he and Voidster do._

 

She bit her lip, sighing shakily as she stared out the window at nothing. It was early morning still. She hadn’t had any coffee, retreating immediately to her room after Voidster had left. There was no point in hiding from him. It would only prolong the inevitable, and increase his predatory drive. If she was lucky, he’d be more annoyed at G for ordering him around than interested in hurting her.

 

The doorknob turned, and creaked slightly as the door opened. Bracing herself, Spot turned. Voidster glanced at her with a mild expression, but it didn’t mean much. He could look completely calm while flaying someone alive, she was sure. He closed and locked the door behind himself, sitting on her bed and crossing his legs, pondering her.

 

 **[What shall I do with you, pet? What you did earlier was stupid, you know. Incredibly stupid.]** Sighing, he lay back on her bed, sprawling over it. Spot frowned. He seemed to be in an odd mood. He turned, suddenly, looking straight at her. **[I need your help training the doll to behave properly. G has given me permission to keep her.]**

 

Spot couldn’t help the glare that crossed over her face. Oh, she’d _bet_ G gave permission, after he had his fun _raping_ the poor thing senseless. And now instead of being cared for like she _should be_ in a proper hospital, she would be kept in this violent and unstable household. Wonderful.

 

He chuckled. **[I can see you don’t approve. That doesn’t matter. If Doll proves too burdensome, G will kill her.]** He paused to let that sink in. **[You see, there is no happy ending for either of you. She either lives here as best she can, or she dies.]**

 

“Just take her to a hospital, Voidster! She’s not a pet, she’s a human being, and she needs help! Jesus.” Spot felt like tearing out her hair in frustration, and resumed her pacing, Voidster watching her agitated movements calmly.

 

 **[She lives here or she dies,]** he repeated finally, lacing his fingers together and glancing at her. **[Now, about your punishment…]**

 

Spot gritted her teeth, prepared for the worst.

 

**[We’ll make it quick. After all, you need time to teach my precious Doll how to behave, don’t you? You can’t do that if you’re too exhausted, or in too much pain.]**

 

Shocked, she stared at him. Was he really letting her off the hook? He gave her a mischievous smile, and rolled over, climbing off the bed. **[Get on your knees. Show me how obedient that rebellious mouth can be.]**

 

Of course. Sighing, she sank gracefully to her knees, trying not to outwardly grimace. If it wasn’t pain, with Voidster, it would be sex. She supposed she should just be grateful it was this, instead of the typical kind that left her aching, every step painful and burdened. The sound of his zipper interrupted her thoughts, and she closed her eyes, opening her mouth.

 

What a lovely picture she made, kneeling before him with those rose-colored lips open, revealing a hint of her hot, wet mouth. He would have preferred eye contact, but was in a generous mood. Truthfully, while he would enjoy this “punishment,” he was more interested in pursuing further experiments with Doll.

 

Still, it had been a while since Spot had taken him orally. He was too large for her to comfortably fit in her mouth. Usually the lich did the honors, with his larger jaws and hole-punched tongue. Voidster salivated as he freed his aching shaft from his trousers, swallowing hard as the head of his erection brushed against her silken cheek. So soft.

 

She was lucky it was only this. He always woke aroused, and would have preferred a fast, hard, fuck. But the pain from that would make it difficult for her to keep up with his doll, who was ever curious about her new environment. And he wanted Spot to feel like she owed him. It would be useful in the future, especially now that she couldn’t count on G as a trusted ally. If she felt indebted to Voidster, she may prove more cooperative in helping him handle the other woman, one that she already felt protective toward.

 

He rubbed the head of his cock over her parted lips, strings of precum leaving a glistening trail that connected the tip of his shaft to her mouth. Gorgeous. He wrapped his large, clawed hands around the back of her head, mindful of the roughness she had already endured from G, and nudged his hips forward, forcing more of his erection between her lips. He had begun training her to deepthroat him, and it stood him in good stead now, as he tilted her head up, and plunged the first few inches into that tight orifice.

 

She gagged slightly, but forced herself to relax, letting him fuck her mouth and throat as he groaned and laced his fingers through her hair. Part of her hated herself for giving in, for letting him do this, for not fighting back. But the rest of her knew how much worse this “punishment” could have been, and was grateful that this was all he had in mind, despite his aroused, arrogant demands.

 

**[That’s right, slut...show me how eager you are for my cock.]**

 

Spot made a muffled sound of protest, but he simply laughed and shoved himself further forward, his eyes half lidded as she struggled to take him in further. Somehow, he built and worked this struggle into a rhythm, thrusting then easing off, wet indulgent sounds filling the room as he harshly took her mouth.

 

It didn’t take long for him to reach his climax, withdrawing to spill slick violet fluid over her lips and throat, watching as she gagged on the salty, bitter taste of his seed. It stained her pale nightgown, and dripped from her parted lips, as she harshly panted, regaining her breath. A slight frown marred his expression as she stood and hurried to the bathroom, rinsing off her face and throat. He would have to teach her how to properly appreciate the taste of a man’s essence, or at least pretend well enough that it was still erotic.

 

Shrugging, he tucked himself back into his pants, and waited for her to return. When she did, her face was calm, though her eyes held bitter resentment. He smiled. It didn’t matter how she felt about him, as long as she obeyed.

 

**[I’ll fetch you when you’re needed. For now, I’d stay out of the lich’s path. There’s no guarantee he won’t decide to discipline you on his own, and I daresay it won’t be as gentle a punishment as mine.]**

 

She winced, and he chuckled, turning to leave and easing the door shut behind him. It had been an interesting morning.

 


	10. Therapy

Voidster did not come to bed until the early hours of the morning, grunting when G woke up and questioned where he had been. The answer he had given made no sense to the lich.  **[In her dreams,]** his mate had tiredly muttered, rubbing his face. Voidster was a naturally handsome and energetic man, and it was rare to see him so exhausted.

 

G only knew of one thing his mate could be speaking of. For someone who generally enjoyed bragging about his abilities, Voidster was surprisingly close-lipped about what G suspected was an ability to enter the dreams of other people. He had done something similar to Sun, once. As far as he knew, Voidster had never entered his dreams. He wasn’t sure if it was simply from a lack of interest, or out of respect. It was hard to tell what lines Voidster drew for himself as far as morality and ethics went. If there were any lines at all.

 

He had said that he was going to put Doll on the rack today, but clearly he had not, or it hadn’t been as productive as he had hoped. Otherwise he wouldn’t have returned to their bed at such a late hour, nor looking so exhausted. G hoped that he had at least punished Spot, who he hadn’t seen after the altercation in the kitchen. He was still angry about that. He would ask his partner after he had rested, and if Voidster hadn’t dealt with it to his satisfaction, he would take matters into his own hands.

 

Sun had been sassy, bright and rebellious. It was one of the things he cherished about her. Spot had sounded like Sun, in the kitchen, defending that girl with a sense of justice in her soul. He had seen the yellow tinge against the gray, like sunlight struggling to shine through a dirty window. And that, more than anything, had been what truly infuriated him. To be reminded of Sun, and have her treat him with such scorn, try to make him  _ ashamed  _ of what he had done...it was unacceptable. He much preferred her gray and uncertain soul. Not a poor imitation of what his mate had been before her death.

 

He was distracted by a glimpse of narrow violet eyes watching him.  **[Do not think on it,]** his mate commanded, ignoring the glare he got in response.  **[I am managing the humans fine on my own. You focus on your work, and I will take care of the pets.]**

 

G snorted. If there was anything Voidster was poorly suited for, it was taking care of other living things. He routinely forgot that they needed to eat, was random and unreliable with his discipline, and tended to behave more out of impulse than planned methods of care. His work with Doll was astounding, in fact, if only because he had been so consistent in her care. If not for G’s intervention, Spot would have died long ago from neglect.

 

He was about to ask what Voidster’s plans for Doll were that day, but his mate was clearly done talking, and roughly grabbed the lich, tugging him back against his own body like a large stuffed animal, and cuddling him. His breathing was heavy, agitated, yet when G relaxed against him, allowing his partner to hold him, Voidster slowly became calmer, nuzzling his face into the lich’s shoulder.

 

**[...later...the rack…feed the prisoners...]** Voidster muttered sleepily, apparently reminding himself of what he planned to do when he woke up. Well, that answered that question. Sighing, G let himself be lulled back to sleep by the steady beat of Voidster’s heart, the broad chest of his lover pressed against his back and their hips tucked together. Intimate, but not sexual. At least not until Voidster had rested, he thought with a smirk. He yawned, and soon succumbed to sleep himself.

 

***

 

I rarely remember my dreams, but I knew when I awoke that the Angel had been there, with me. He had watched as I relived my sister’s death, the pain of my youth, and the violence of the hospital. It was as if he were flipping the pages of a book, the scenes moving rapidly through my head as he perused them. I wanted to ask him to stop, to ask why he was making me see this again, but he only hushed me, and continued to rummage through my head.

 

I woke with vivid memories of this occurrence, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was in my bed in the basement, and my body was slick with sweat. The hospital gown clung to my damp skin. I needed a shower. Cautiously, I exited my room. He had not forbidden me from doing so, only instructed me that I stay out of his mate’s path, and away from his study as well. G still did not want me here, despite the intimacy he had taken from me such a short time ago. Defiled and discarded. Doll. That was me.

 

My angel would never have done such a thing. He stroked my hair and my cheek, and called me kind names, and brought me food. I surmised that G was the master of this house, and what had happened had been the price I had to pay in order to live here. He didn’t want me, but he would let me stay, for now.

 

I peered into the bathroom, and hesitated. I didn’t know how to use the shower. My balance was precarious, and I might fall, besides. It would be better to find help, lest I injure myself. I left the darkened room alone, and shuffled unsteadily to the door at the bottom of the stairs. It was unlocked, allowing me access to the upper areas of the house. I was happy. I liked the sunlight and the trees in the windows. Maybe the kind woman would make me breakfast again, and I could help her wash dishes. Breaking them was more fun, but she had said not to do that, so I wouldn’t.

 

When I reached the top of the stairs, I carefully pushed my way out of the closet. The light was blue, which meant the sun was not awake yet, but soon. I shouldn’t be alone, in case the lich woke first and found me. I went instead to the woman’s room, and found her sleeping, still. I didn’t want to soil the clean linens with my sweat-stained gown, and so I lay on the floor beside her, waiting for her to wake up.   
  
***

 

Spot yawned deeply, stretching with her eyes closed and luxuriating in a full night’s rest. It was too rare that such a thing occurred. She had to admit, Doll’s presence had bought her a reprieve from Voidster’s attentions that was not unwelcome. She still didn’t approve, but there was no point in harping on it. They knew how she felt. She’d have to leave it at that, or risk further angering G.

 

A soft puff of warm breath swept across her face, and she winced, prepared for violet eyes staring down at her. But when she opened her lids, she was met with dilated, pitch black pupils staring intently at her face. Yelping, she bolted upright, clasping her chest as if her heart might leap out. It felt like it might. Doll was not on the bed, but had been leaning over her as she slept, watching her face. Groaning, Spot rubbed her face and decided that trying to explain why doing that was bad would be unproductive at best. Jesus, she had nearly had a heart attack, though. She didn’t know why, but something about Doll’s eyes was even more unnerving than Voidster’s purple, cat like gaze.

 

“Are you awake now?”

 

Spot bit back a sarcastic reply, and nodded shakily. “Yep. I am definitely awake. Why were you, uh...did you need something?”

 

“I need to take a shower, but I don’t know how, and also I was hungry….” Doll trailed off wistfully, as if she were unsure that food was something she could reasonably ask for. Spot felt a small pang of guilt at how bothered she had been by Doll’s sudden appearance, and cleared her throat.

 

“Well how about we eat first, then I can show you how the shower works?”  _ And supervise you, because Voidster would literally kill me if you fell and cracked your head open,  _ she added silently, as the girl smiled at her. “How about eggs and toast? Do you like that?”

 

Doll paused thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Food is food.” Huh. Not picky then, Spot realized. That was good. She could cook basic meals, but wasn’t exactly a gourmet chef.

 

“Alright, eggs and toast it is,” Spot responded as cheerfully as she could.

 

**[No food this morning. Spot, you can eat. Doll is coming with me.]**

 

Both women startled, glancing at the doorway, where Voidster stood. He glanced at Spot, daring her to challenge him. She felt her expression harden, but said nothing. He would do what he wanted, just like he always did.

 

Doll had no complaints, treading lightly over to where the massive monster stood. He glanced down at her with an expression of cruel amusement, then, with a last glance at Spot, turned to lead her away.

***

 

Doll was obedient as he led her down the stairs into the basement. She followed him like a lamb to slaughter; trusting, with no idea what was in store for it. In truth, there was no reason to punish her. At least, none that a simpler mind could comprehend. Voidster understood a great deal about pain, and the application of it for catharsis. It was why the lich trusted him when the memories of his past mate caused him too much pain. Indeed, there was perhaps nothing that Voidster was more skilled at, than drawing out the poison of the soul through suffering.

 

Doll would either benefit from this, or be badly wounded. Not physically, but mentally. He gauged that she could handle a higher than average amount of pain, but the effect it would have was not yet known. Would it draw out the poison, or would it permanently break what was already a fragile and confused mind?

 

**[Undress,]** he said passively, standing outside the threshold of the room. Doll removed her hospital gown and gave it to him. It was damp with sweat; she must have had nightmares again. He discarded it in a nearby bin, and lead her into the room with the rack. He felt a tremor go through her body at the sight of the chains. She must remember this room from when he had taken G in it. Unfortunately for her, it would be nothing so pleasant when she was bound.

 

She was so much smaller than the lich, the chains had to be adjusted. Even then, they were barely long enough to hold her. Her wrists were gathered together and held above her head, her ankles spread and bound with her feet on the floor. She was too tightly bound to fall, no matter how hard he struck her, she must stand and receive it. He removed his belt.

 

**[What was the name of the sister who died in the bath?]** he asked calmly. She gasped as if he had struck her, trembling so hard that the chains rattled. He’d gathered enough details from her dreams to do this, to purge the past, like lancing an infected wound so that the pus could drain out. It had all begun with the sister, the one whose mother drowned her. Doll blamed herself for that death, and thus had begun the spiral of chaos that was her life.

 

“Annie,” she muttered, so low that he strained to hear her. “Her name was Annie.”

 

He drew back the belt and struck her, hard across the shoulders. She did not cry out, but shuddered with relief as the blow hit, the pain distracting her from the past.

 

**[Whose fault was it that Annie died?]**

 

She paused, whimpering. “I didn’t mean to. I was reading. I thought she was safe.  _ I didn’t know.” _

 

He struck her again, harder. Then again.

 

**[Whose fault was it that Annie died?]**

 

“It was mine!” she screamed, tears flowing down her face. “I left her alone! I didn’t protect her!”

 

Voidster frowned. He would need to try a different tact. He whipped Doll again and again, ignoring her sobbing until it quieted, until her garbled admissions of guilt fell silent. Her back was red and inflamed. He hadn’t planned on having to push her quite this hard, but the situation was still under control. Striding around to the front of her, he tilted her chin up, staring into her eyes.

 

**[Who am I?]**

 

“M-master,” she whimpered, “My angel.”

 

**[Yes. And do angels lie?]**

 

She stared at him. “No…”

 

He smiled gently, his thumb brushing away her tears.  **[Such a good and obedient little pet you are. You do want to please me, don’t you?]**

 

“Yes.” She strained against her bonds, staring up at him pleadingly.

 

**[If you disobey me I will be very cross. I want you to listen to me, and accept what I tell you. If you do, I will reward you. I will be pleased with you.]**

 

She panted silently, watching him with those blown pupils, hungering like a dog for any scrap of praise he might give.

 

**[Your mother killed Annie.]**

 

He saw her breathing pick up, saw the sweat stand out on her forehead as she shook. “I….I….” She couldn’t seem to speak, her lips barely moving as she sagged in her bonds and her head lolled forward. Calmly, he cupped the back of her skull and brought her face back to meet his eyes.

 

**[You did not kill Annie. Your mother did. This is my truth. Accept it, little dove. Be free of it.]**

 

It was an uncommon state of mind to bring about, but if anyone could, it was Voidster. A submissive state, brought on by a combination of pain and hypnotism, that allowed the person controlling the situation to make the subject compliant. Unless he misgauged his mark, Doll was in this state now, a semi-lucid moment where she was more malleable, and might accept what he was saying. It was the best chance he had of saving the few scraps of sanity she had left.

 

“I didn’t kill Annie…” she whispered, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. “I didn’t kill her. I didn’t. My mother...my mother….”

 

Tenderly, he caressed her face, supporting her head in one massive clawed hand while the other stroked her body, petting her gently, to comfort, not to arouse. His hand ran smooth circles over her back, and he crouched before her, embracing her thin, naked body as gently as he could. Positive reinforcement was paramount to this change in thinking. Every step that he took was as carefully orchestrated as the work of a brain surgeon.

 

**[Very good. You are a very good pet, my dear. I am pleased. I know that was difficult for you.]**

 

Looking dazed, she nodded, still lightly weeping as he stepped back around her. His hand stroked the inflamed welts on her back, and she shivered in pain, but did not protest. That was enough for one session. Unlike the lich, Doll had limited endurance, and she would pass out from the emotional strain if he tried to change too much in one day. Now was the time for aftercare. It wasn’t his favorite part of the process, but just as necessary as the whipping had been.

 

Replacing his belt, he released her wrists from the cuff, unlocking her ankles and deftly catching her as she collapsed. She needed to be showered, which would ignite the welts once more, but the shock of the pain might help transition her out of the submissive state, which, while useful, could be dangerous if left too long. She needed to find herself again, or risk remaining lost in Voidster’s reality. A burden that he didn’t want. Such a mindset would require him to instruct her in the simplest tasks; from eating, to walking, to sleeping. A human left in this state remained utterly passive. He’d euthanized several before he’d learned how better to control the hypnotism.

 

Carrying her slight form to the bathroom, he turned on the shower, setting her down under the spray. She flinched as the hot water hit her back, and began standing on her own, watching him with wide eyes as he removed his hands. 

 

“What happened?” She asked slowly, blinking as though she were waking from a dream. Perfect.

 

**[Therapy, my dear. We’ll have a few more sessions at least, but for now you will eat breakfast and then rest, I think. It is a taxing process.]**

 

He washed her impersonally as he spoke, pushing up his shirt sleeves and lathering the soap, running it carefully over her injured back, then turning her to wash the front of her body. When his hand passed over her breast, she startled him by catching his wrist, holding it in place and meeting his gaze. Her intention was unmistakeable. She had found some piece of clarity, and was using it to tell him what she wanted. Him.

 

With a faint smile, he shook his head, and tugged his hand from her grip.  **[I fear you would find my attentions a shade too intense for your liking,]** he murmured, washing her hips and legs, then rinsing her off.  **[Even your experience with the lich would pale next to the violence I bring to the bed.]** He paused. Why was he denying her? What did he care if she was frightened or damaged by his passions? He had never abstained before, so why now?

 

Frowning, he drew another towel from the pile and patted her dry. She was still staring at him, desire smoldering in those dark eyes. Shrugging, he tilted her chin upward, bending down to place a soft kiss upon her lips. They parted beneath his mouth like the petals of a flower, and he couldn’t help but flick his tongue forward, entangling with hers as the simple kiss became something much more.

 

He dropped the towel, his hands dropping to cup her buttocks and lift her against him, balancing her at his groin so that he could feel the heat of her against his stirring manhood. She wrapped her arms around his neck and passionately returned the kiss, licking his lips and gently biting the lower one. Their breath commingled, and he groaned into her mouth, stepping forward to press her against the wall.

 

Keeping her pinned between his hips and a hand cupping her ass, his other hand roamed upward, squeezing her breast and rubbing the nipple until she moaned and arched her back, pressing more of herself against him. He let go the soft mound to dip between her legs, finding her wet and swollen as she writhed and bucked her hips. She really did want him. He had never had a woman so willing, so hot and ready, especially after being whipped. Only the lich had ever met Voidster’s touch with such passion.

 

Trembling slightly, he lowered her, ignoring her disappointed huff as he stepped back, and braced himself against the counter. He was painfully hard, and wanted nothing more than to unzip and press his aching shaft into that soaking heat, to consummate whatever this was between them. But his mind was frozen, shocked at her reaction, and struggling to compensate for his confusion.

 

Blinking rapidly, he took a fresh hospital gown from the neatly folded pile, and pulled it over her head. She looked at him sadly, and he automatically reached out to brush his fingers through the short, dark hair that was beginning to frame her delicate features becomingly.  **[Later,]** he said, and his voice was hoarse with desire. Closing his eyes he took a few deep breaths, which did nothing to settle him, as he could smell her arousal easily through the thin gown.

 

He sighed, then rubbed at his forehead.  **[You need to eat and rest.]** She said nothing, but slipped her hand into his own as the two of them went upstairs together.


	11. Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember that two chapters were added tonight. Don't forget to read Chapter 10!

They had nearly finished breakfast when Voidster sauntered into the room, placing one large clawed hand on the table.  **[Time for therapy,]** he rumbled, as he had for the past few days. Once he had determined that Doll was unlikely to throw up from physical pain, he had allowed her to eat, but there was a new obstacle this morning.

 

Chips, the gray cat that he had gifted G with, was on top of the table. Voidster frowned. He didn’t like the animal to be on the furniture, although G dotingly allowed it to lay wherever it pleased. But the girls were cooing and feeding him bits of scrambled egg, petting his ears while he purred like a motor. Doll was clearly enchanted with him, and Voidster found himself wondering if she had ever seen a cat before. Surely she had, the animals seemed as prolific as humans themselves were.

 

He tapped his claws on the table impatiently, and was ignored. He scowled. He didn’t understand the appeal of such a small, insubordinate animal. It didn’t obey commands, it didn’t respect personal space, and it constantly demanded G’s attention. He hadn’t counted on how time consuming it would be when he had gifted it to his mate. It had been smaller and less able to navigate the world.

 

Doll glanced up at him, and he was struck by the unadulterated happiness in her eyes. He hadn’t seen that before. “Is G his father?” she asked seriously, and he squinted, considering the question.

 

**[I...suppose he is,]** he finally said, wondering what the lich would think of the label of  _ father,  _ even when it came to a small gray cat. He was soon educated on that matter, for G had left his study for more coffee, and scoffed at Doll’s question, but didn’t correct her. Voidster knew that the lich had a strong paternal instinct that was most evident when he was feral, but even while sane, he was protective of the cat. Thus his furtive glances toward the girls, despite the cat’s obvious enjoyment of the attention he was receiving.

 

Finally, with his coffee cup in one hand, he stalked over to the table, gathering his cat into one arm against his chest and scowling down at Doll, who stared blankly up at him. “Goodbye Chips,” she said sweetly, and G grumbled, swiveling on his feet and stepping away with his coffee and his cat, closing his office door behind him. Voidster’s lips twitched. That was that, he supposed.

 

He then remembered why he had been standing in the kitchen in the first place.  **[Doll. Therapy.]** He snapped his fingers, and she focused on him, startled. He held out his hand, and she placed her own in his. The contrast of her delicate fingers to his large, clawed, knuckled digits never ceased to bemuse him. So small and fragile compared to him. He could have crushed her hand in one of his own, yet she had absolute trust that he wouldn’t. And he did nothing to betray that trust. Breaking her hands would serve no purpose, and only require further care on his part.

 

Spot watched them go, silently, then sighed. She should go talk to G. He had been ignoring her since their fight a few days ago, and he was the closest thing she had to a friend, besides Doll, who was more like a sweet child than an equal. She felt bad to think of the other woman like that, but it was true. Doll struggled to hold normal conversations, constantly put herself in minor peril due to her innocent curiosity, and had to be prompted to do anything, never taking initiative herself.

 

Sighing again, she stood, clearing the dishes. She lingered on the task, well aware that she dreaded knocking on that oaken study door. G was already in a bad mood due to Doll’s presence, which wouldn’t make it any easier to approach him. Despite her efforts, the dishes were clean all too soon, and she had nothing left to prevent her from this unsavory task. But she couldn’t afford to rely on Voidster’s unpredictable moods. He had been kind, for now. Who knew what the next day would bring?

 

She knocked softly on the door, a long pause following where she considered just leaving, before she heard G’s voice on the other side. 

 

“Come.”

 

She hesitantly opened the door, Chips winding around her legs as she shut it behind her, and seated herself across the desk from G. She had always hated this position. It felt like being in trouble at school. But it was the only way to ensure she had his full attention. His white eyes studied her unnervingly, his expression neutral as he waited for her to speak.

 

“I-I just wanted to say. I’m sorry I broke your coffee mug.”

 

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and staring at her expressionlessly. When she said nothing more, he leaned forward, steepling his hands over his desk. “This is my home. My word is law, and you would do well to remember that. Any human that is not a guest is my property, and I do with my property as I please.”

 

Spot grimaced, turning away as she remembered that night, him stumbling up the stairs with his slacks undone, smeared in blood. She wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him for doing that to Doll.

 

“You know that Voidster has a sexual relationship with her.”

 

His words startled her out of her reverie, and she stared at him. “R-really?”

 

The lich smirked, the tips of his fangs showing as he raised a brow. “This surprises you? It is Voidster, after all. Why would he not indulge with such a devoted human? She craves his attention, and you know better than most what his attention consists of. Before you condemn me for deflowering the girl, consider who orchestrated it.”

 

“Voidster asked you to-?” She felt disgusted, of course he had. How could she have forgotten that they both treated human women like property, like animals.

 

“He presented her as a gift to appease my anger at her presence in my home, and I accepted. She doesn’t seem terribly distressed by it, does she?”

 

Spot halted at that. Well and truly stopped. He was right. Doll wasn’t acting traumatized. Even around G, she didn’t behave fearful or withdrawn. She had been so caught up in her anger that she had assumed what Doll had experienced had been painful and terrifying, like so many of Spot’s encounters with the beasts that lived here. While her motivation to protect herself was muted, Spot felt a fierce desire to keep Doll from harm. She was like a younger sister, and too innocent to deserve the punishment of living in such a place as this.

 

“She’s too innocent to live here,” she blurted out, flushing as G raised a brow. “I meant it when I said she’s like a child, G. Even if she wasn’t traumatized, this isn’t right. She should be in a hospital.”

 

“And yet she seems eternally grateful that Voidster took her from the hospital she had been in,” he mused, still staring at her. “What do you propose? That we screen every hospital in the area until we find one that treats violent lobotomy patients with kindness and dignity?”   
  
“She’s not violent-!” Spot clenched the arms of the chair to keep herself from shouting. “She’s never been violent with me, she doesn’t have a violent bone in her body…” She paused as G pulled down the zipper of his hoodie, showcasing a dark gray bite on his throat.

 

“She tried to tear out my throat, you know,” he said conversationally. “It’s been days, yet the mark has not fully faded. She bit as hard as she possibly could. It wasn’t the first time she tried to tear out someone’s throat, either.”   
  
“You don’t know that,” Spot muttered, feeling pale as she stared at the bite mark, before G zipped his hoodie back up.

 

“I’ll kill you,” he quoted, staring into her eyes. “You’ll bleed like the rest.” He tapped his claws impatiently on the desk. “Does that not speak of her true nature, pet? There is violence there, not innocence alone. Humans are not lobotomized unless they are uncontrollably violent. You’ve been befriending a sociopath.”

 

Spot said nothing, absorbing his words in shock. “She’s never been violent toward me, not even with the bath…”

 

“You’ve been lucky, thus far,” the lich said remorselessly. “She’s like a wild animal. Eventually even you could be bitten. Voidster and I are in no danger from her, but another human? She could kill you, if she really tried. Something to keep in mind.”   
  
Spot felt numb, rooted to the chair as G eyed her. “Go now. I have paperwork to do. And heed my words, pet. Despite your rebellious ways, I am fond of you. I’d hate to find you with your throat torn out.”

 

***

 

Doll was becoming more cooperative as time passed. Voidster remained steadfast in his work, focusing only on the death of her sister. It was the root of the infection, and until every bit of decay had been scraped out, she could never fully heal. Every time, she was more malleable, more willing to accept that it hadn’t been her fault. He gave her a few days each time to heal, then began anew. She never complained, never flinched when he bathed her afterward, tenderly washing the new weals with soap and warm water. And he never drew blood.

 

And he found himself lingering, with her. His fingers traced tender paths on her nearly translucent skin, gently brushing through her hair. And after every “therapy” session, he found the folds between her thighs swollen and slippery. For whatever reason, the pain aroused her, and he found it beautiful. Never had he worked with such a victim. G found pain erotic, in some circumstances, but Doll slipped into a sexual trance, pressing her body wantonly against him when he undid her bonds and carried her to the shower. He could hardly help himself from caressing her warm flesh.

 

Tonight she had shyly stood naked before him, leaving a trail of gentle kisses down his arm and to his fingertips, which she flicked the tip of her tongue over. He wanted her. He didn’t understand why he was abstaining, except perhaps that the suffering he inflicted on himself was so sweet. Instead, he lifted her onto the bed, carefully crawling up between her legs, pushing her thighs apart with large, clawed hands.

 

When his warm breath swept over her sex, she shuddered clear down her body, her hands fisting in the sheets beneath them. “Please,” she begged, tossing her head to the side as he gave a tentative lick over her delicate folds. The soft whimper that dripped from her lips was like music to him, and he pushed forward more boldly, laving her entrance with the broad surface of his tongue. Her hands left the sheets and found his head, tugging him forward. He smirked as his fangs brushed her sex, nuzzling forward further and inserting his tongue into her entrance.

 

“M-my Angel,” she gasped, arching her back as he gently dragged his claws over her erect nipples, trailing down her body to grip her hips. His thumb brushed over her clit, tracing an ancient language with his tongue over her heated mound. For once, he had no words, he was simply focused on the pleasure of the woman beneath him. He craved her. He resented her. He didn’t understand her. Sex was something he understood, and how to manipulate men and women with it. That Doll was just as vulnerable to this weapon, was some small comfort to him.

 

His long, twisting tongue swept between her thighs, further exciting her. She tasted of honey and salt, sweet and musky. It stirred in him a longing, passion, desire. He fought these feelings, reminding himself that she was just a toy, just an object, just a human. But it didn’t stop him from savoring the taste of her, and wanting more.

 

He inserted his long, knuckled digits into her quivering folds, and pumped them in and out vigorously, leaning upward to suckle on the vulnerable flesh of her throat as she moaned and thrashed beneath him. It wasn’t long before she reached a fierce climax, her toes curling and her fingers clawing down his back.

 

He panted, his erection almost painful as it brushed his thigh beneath his trousers. Oh, how he wanted her. She trembled and heaved, her skin flushed and pink and wet. So tempting, so erotic, to behold. He settled instead for draping himself over her, propping most of his weight on his forearms as he settled his groin against her heat, unconsciously pushing his hips forward in a slight thrusting movement.

 

Their legs entangled, his chest pressing into hers, the softness of his turtleneck stroking her nipples and belly making her shudder. He pushed her into the mattress, his soft, aroused breath beating down on her face as he heaved above her like a feral beast. He nuzzled his lips against her short hair, gently kissing the scar that swept across her brow. He felt her yielding, and craved to bury deep within her heat, feeling her tightness embrace him as it must have done G.

 

**[If I take you...as a man takes a woman...there will be pain,]** he murmured down at her, closing his eyes. He didn’t mind hurting her. It brought him pleasure. But he wanted to hear what she would say.

 

“No pain so great that I cannot bear it,” she whispered, “for you.”

 

A gentle, malicious smile curved his lips, and he buried it against the top of her head.  **[Such a wonderous pet you are.]**

 

She twisted in his arms, attempting to look up at him. “Make me yours.”

 

He chuckled lightly, reaching one hand over to stroke through her hair.  **[You are mine. I had claimed you the moment I took you from that hospital.]**

 

She said nothing, but he felt her sag slightly in his arms, disappointed. He had known what she meant, but he wouldn’t be rushed. G remained convinced that this human had cast some sort of spell over him. That she held him under her sway, that this brain-damaged human could somehow control him, or even influence him. Ridiculous. But until he had that situation well in hand, he wouldn’t risk such entanglements.

 

Spot was upstairs, and one woman felt much like another when your cock was striking through them. He would ease his frustrations with a safer female. One who didn’t carry the subtext his mate had assigned her.


	12. Heat

It was dinner time, and G was barely tolerating Doll’s presence at his table. She poked at her food, eating some, and arranging some into small, neat piles. Voidster was unusually silent, stealing glances at his mate, who was ignoring him. The tension was nearly overwhelming Spot, who hunched in her chair and didn’t look at any of them.

 

Was Doll really dangerous? G’s words echoed in her head.  _ “You’ve been befriending a sociopath.”  _ She snorted, her expression sour. Well maybe he should pay more attention to who he had chosen as his MATE, if he had a problem with sociopaths. Doll was not a sociopath. Unstable, unpredictable, yes. Not violent. For all she knew, G had been lying about Doll trying to rip out his throat.

 

Frowning, she stirred the leftover broccoli on her plate, waiting for one of the monsters to get up and leave, so that she could follow suit. Despite the lack of conversation, there was a sudden silence that made her glance up, a sort of absence of the usual small sounds of a meal being shared. G and Voidster were both staring at Doll, who was pressing the tines of the fork into her palm, watching blood well up with fascination.

 

“What the-”

 

Shocked, Spot grabbed Doll’s wrist, wrestling her for control of the fork. She thought the girl would give up easily, but instead she snarled at Spot, yanking the fork back and holding it like a weapon. Blood dripped from her hand as Spot froze, staring into those dark, feral eyes.  _ “You’ll bleed like the rest of them.”  _

 

The moment was quickly shattered, for G lunged across the table, backhanding Doll with enough force that she tumbled out of her chair, landing hard on the floor.

 

“G!”

**[G!]**

 

Spot was shocked, and Voidster sounded furious.

 

**[How dare you?! She was merely startled by the careless actions of our pet, she was not attacking her!]**

 

The lich stood, staring darkly down at the startled woman on the floor. “So you say. Yet if I had stayed my hand, there is no telling what would have happened. I’m not taking risks with your pet project. Control it, or I will control it for you.”

 

With that, he stalked from the room, Voidster staring after him, as Spot hesitantly knelt on the ground.

 

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” She deftly slid the fork away from Doll, taking her bleeding hand and examining it, which was when the other woman promptly burst into tears.

 

“Oh. Oh no, uh. It’s okay!” Awkwardly, Spot rubbed Doll’s back, throwing a helpless glance at Voidster, who was now glaring at her. “Do something,” she hissed, “This isn’t my fault.”

 

The snort that left his lips disagreed with her statement, but still, he bent and cradled Doll in his arms.  **[Shh, little lamb. He’s gone now, no one will hurt you,]** he crooned in a low, soothing voice. Doll hiccuped and hid her face against his turtleneck, her shoulders heaving with her sobs.  **[I should teach that bastard a lesson,]** he growled, standing and attempting to set Doll down in a chair. She refused to let go of his neck, staring pleadingly up at him, and finally he conceded, throwing dark glances down the hall at the lich’s study as he tucked her fragile body against his chest.

 

She cuddled up against him in a way that was heartrendingly trusting, clearly at peace and feeling safe in his arms. Spot sighed, standing herself, and glancing at the dishes. Without a word, she began to gather them up, tossing a piece of salmon to Chips when he rubbed against her legs and murred. He ate it up quickly, then trotted down the hallway to G’s study.  _ Doubt you wanna go in there right now buddy,  _ Spot thought to herself. But G had never released his temper on the cat. If anyone here was safe from his wrath, it was the small gray cat named Chips.

 

She turned away from the curious eyes of Doll, who didn’t seem to grasp what had happened, and had forgotten the reason she was crying. An ugly red mark was forming on her cheek, and Spot knew from experience how bad it would look in a few days.

 

**[It’s best if you retire early,]** Voidster said, and Spot wondered if he was talking to her or to Doll. Glancing over her shoulder she saw him staring explicitly at her.

 

“Fine,” she said softly, too tired to argue or care. An early bedtime actually didn’t sound half bad, especially if she had a hot bath first. She could pick up that new novel she’d been reading before this whole mess started. Some part of her wanted to protest at leaving Doll in his care, but a wiser, more cynical part knew that there was nowhere safer for the girl. It seemed that one more demon in her life was just what the doctor ordered.

 

***

 

Spot was going into heat. G paced furiously in his study, ignoring the slight scratching of Chips demanding to be let in. More importantly- Spot was going into heat, and Voidster hadn’t noticed. Or if he had, his desire had been displaced onto that girl, that creature, that had dared raise a weapon at his table, at  _ his  _ female.

 

He raised his claws to his face, digging the tips into his skull until tiny beads of blood formed. It provided no relief. He wanted to take Spot, hide her away, and rut with her until he was satiated. He wanted to destroy Voidster for letting that girl almost injure her, and teach that half-wit some real manners. She had thought he was bestial when he had taken her virginity? It was nothing compared to the tender intimacy he would subject her to for daring to show such violence in his home.

 

The hypocrisy of these thoughts was irrelevant. He knew only that he was the dominant male of this territory, and that the primary female was ready to breed, and must be protected. He would put her in his secret study. She wouldn’t be able to find her way out, since it could only be reached by teleportation. There was a small bathroom in there, water, food. He could keep her there until her heat was ended. Safe, accessible for breeding, no interruptions from his frustrating mate.

 

Of course, if Voidster had sensed Spot’s heat and fixated on Doll instead, G wouldn’t need to hide her away. His mate would be far too occupied fucking that brain-damaged little toy of his to worry about Spot. Easy.

 

He stopped his pacing and paused, listening. Silence. Voidster must be in the basement with Doll, and Spot... she would be nearby. He would find her. With firm strides, he left his study, prowling the kitchen and following her trail by scent alone. To his surprise, it led not to her bedroom, but to the bathroom instead. He heard the splashing of water, and a predatory smirk touched his lips. She was bathing. He could smell the fresh scent of the soap, and the scent of her heat even stronger beyond it. Turning the handle of the door, he stepped into the bathroom.

 

***

 

Spot floated freely on her back in the tub, staring up at the ceiling with her head partially submerged. Thus she did not hear the door open, nor the lich stepping inside. It had been a long day, and a bath was just the thing to ease her strains. She closed her eyes and let the hot water melt away her aches and pains. 

 

Her eyes were still closed when she felt the delicate brush of knuckles against her bare breasts. Jolting upward, she instinctively crossed her arms over her chest, her glare turning to surprise when she saw it was G, not Voidster who had invaded her privacy.

 

“Wh-what are you doing here, G? I’m just taking a bath before bed…” She bit her lip. His pupils were mere pinpricks, and he didn’t seem to be listening to her. He parted his jaws, inhaling, and black saliva dribbled down his chin. She was used to such behaviors by now, and wasn’t surprised when she glanced down and saw a growing bulge in his slacks.

 

“Go away, G,” she grumbled, not remotely in the mood to satisfy his primal urges. Coupling with either of the monsters left her sore and aching, and she was already feeling emotional. “Go find Voidster, he likes it when you’re like this.”

 

The corners of his mouth pulled up into his sharp cheekbones, and he tilted his head. “And you do not...my dear?” He let his hand trail from her breast to her thighs, delicately tracing a pattern over her slick folds. 

 

Biting off a moan, she slapped his hand away, scowling at him. “Being “in heat” does not mean I’m in the mood all the time, and it doesn’t mean you can just interrupt what I’m doing because you got a hard-on.”

 

“Ah my dear, you are mistaken. Do you not remember my earlier words?  This is my home. My word is law. Any human that is not a guest is my property, and I do with my property as I please.” He reached into the bath, lifting her soaking body without any difficulty, the water cascading down back into the tub.

 

He ignored her fussing beneath him on the floor, turning her over so that her back was against his chest. Yes, that was the best position. His unzipped hoodie hung over both of them, and the heat from his chest warmed her cold, wet body. Shivering, she heard his zipper being undone, and bit her lip in frustration. Nobody ever listened to her or cared what she had to say. When she felt his throbbing manhood ease up against her folds, she tried to twist out of the way, but he hooked an arm beneath her hips, propping her up and holding her still at his favorite angle.

 

“Shh,” he whispered, nuzzling her wet hair as he eased forward. A low groan was wrung from her lips as he forced himself inside her. She wasn’t quite wet enough to ease the transition, but G was far from caring. All he wanted to do was breed her, and ease this turmoil within himself. He would feel calmer after catering to his instincts.

 

He tilted his head downward, biting into the side of her neck in a predator’s hold as he arched his back to work further within her. Strings of precum slathered within her, and she mewled as it stung and nipped at her sex, before numbing and warming the flesh. “You’re such an asshole,” she gasped, and he merely smirked, biting down a bit harder before releasing her skin.

 

“Be quiet.”

 

To emphasize his words, he slid his fingers into her wet mouth, curling them back toward her tongue as she choked and sputtered. Much better. He withdrew the tip of his shaft and threw forward in a solid thrust, burying a good few more inches. Her pained shout was muffled by his hand, but the writhing of her clean, damp skin against his own dead flesh was...exquisite.

 

He inhaled again, the heady aroma of warm skin and the musk of her reluctant arousal, the scent of sweat and togetherness. His cock throbbed, and he nudged further within her, hardly withdrawing as he went deeper, then deeper. The muffled groan she gave as he pressed against her cervix was as satisfying as the hilting, itself. She was taking all of him, down to the root, and saliva freely pattered down beside her head as he panted and growled dominantly. His pupils disappeared, leaving the milky white irises that appeared when he was feral. He was still capable of rational thought right now, though just barely, but the rest of his mind was sweltering in his need and his lust.

 

“Tell me who you belong to,” he growled, nuzzling into her hair and rubbing his glistening chest against her spine. His pelvis ground against her buttocks, making her whimper as he removed his fingers from her mouth.

 

“You,” she muttered with ill grace, instantly noticed by the lich. His eyes narrowed and he pulled back his hips, only to throw forward with such strength that she was shoved into bathroom rug. “F-fuck,” she moaned, tears coursing down her face. “G, just get it over with, don’t play games like Voidster does.”

 

Snarling, he twined his hand in her hair, jerking her head to the side. “You are mine, and I do with my property as I please,” he murmured against her cheek, his fangs brushing the skin. “Voidster brought you and that girl here, but you all belong to me in your own ways. This is my home, and you are mine. You should be thanking me for protecting you from that girl’s violent ways.”

 

“She wasn’t-hngh-” Spot ground her teeth together as the lich picked up the pace, rolling shallowing against her backside with a speed that built a deep, satisfying itch in her belly. He didn’t stop, didn’t slow, and she felt herself begin to crest, tightening around his girthy shaft as he grunted and hissed, adding strength to his thrusts as he hilted as deeply as possible, again and again.

 

As Spot cried out in bliss, G snarled, hilting in her a few more times, until strings of his essence flooded her, rushing through her insides and dribbling out and down her thighs. Withdrawing, he studied his work, the black stains that would remain for a few days at least, the light bruises on her hips and the bite on her throat. His theory had been correct. He did feel calmer. Still irritated, but relaxed enough that he could go to sleep without stewing over that  _ creature  _ that Voidster was so obsessed with.

 

He climbed off of Spot, tucking himself back into his pants and ignoring the glare she cast him. “So you just pull me out of the bath, fuck me, then go on your way? Tch.”

 

He smirked down at her, his body relaxed and some of his good humor restored. “The water may still be warm, if you hurry. Or we can work out this...anger...in my quarters, and you’ll have your bath later. Or not at all. It’s your choice. Perhaps the bath will uncover your scent once more, and you’ll attract my mate’s attention as well.”

 

Scoffing, Spot turned away from him, climbing shakily back into the tepid bath water. She would rinse herself off then flush out the ill water, refilling it with fresh, hot water. As for Voidster, she just hoped he was well occupied with Doll.

 

To be continued….


	13. Mistake

As G pursued Spot upstairs, Voidster was in the basement; an emotionally overwrought human girl in his arms. His deep voice murmured meaningless comforts, but they seemed to calm her. He had been interested to see why she was driving the fork into her hand, and hadn’t counted on the other human taking exception to the sight and seeking to intervene. It made sense that Doll had been defensive. He saw no issue with her actions. Spot had startled her when she’d been in a deep, trance-like state. Her primary reaction to situations like that was violence. It was expected.

 

G had responded in an unacceptable manner. It still made him angry. Doll’s cheek was red from being struck, and it was sure to bruise horrifically. He wanted only his own marks on her skin. Hesitating for a moment near her room, he finally entered, and sat carefully on the bed, still holding her in his arms. She was mumbling to herself, and had been for some time, he realized. Nonsense that could only be translated by a damaged mind.

 

“And that’s why the rain comes, and when he’s angry the thunder, and the trees blow away the night butterflies, they get lost in the storm until the sun comes back, but nothing ever happens-”

 

He tuned her out again, absently stroking her shaven head as she eventually stuttered to a halt, and quieted under the soft petting. Spot, the other female, was in heat. He was sure that was part of what accounted for G’s reaction to Doll. And yet he found himself in a unique situation. He wanted to fuck Spot, of course he did. But the frail, porcelain girl in his arms drew some deeper urge from him. The desire to possess, protect, and keep her. A sort of nesting desire.

 

Bile rose in his throat. It was far too domestic a feeling to be acceptable. He’d sooner ravage Spot than give in to gentle urges with Doll. Something about the idea of coupling with her made him uneasy, despite the stolen moments of intimacy, the obvious sexual tension between them. He felt almost superstitious about it, as if the act itself might somehow affect him differently than sex usually did.

 

Doll nestled against his broad chest, resting her uninjured cheek on his shoulder and holding a fistful of crimson fabric in one hand. She didn’t...fear him. Not at all. Perhaps that was what made him so uneasy. He could so easily harm her, so easily kill her, but she lacked the natural fear she should have. Instead she displayed only devotion, seeming to crave his touch and his presence, instead of shying away. It defeated the violence in him, and he found no outlet, no trigger for his aggression when he was with her. All that was left was this strange, gentle affection.

 

He nuzzled his parted jaws against her hair, inhaling her scent. It stirred him, aroused him. Carefully setting her on the bed, he crawled over her, moving lower as he pressed his fangs against her cheek, and then her throat. The scent of her skin was soft and delicate, like the woman herself. He nudged against the mound of her breast, and her breath caught, as he grasped the thin hospital gown and slowly ripped it down the center. He heard her heartbeat quicken, and rested his cheek on her breast as he listened.

 

He wasn’t sure what to do. Her scent beckoned to him, tempting him, the warm flame of desire burning in his belly. He could leave her here, aroused and frustrated in her torn gown, and seek out Spot. Or his mate. Either was an acceptable solution to the ache in his groin, unlike the strange, broken girl he hovered over now. Just a little longer.

 

He turned his head, lapping slowly at her nipple. It stiffened under his tongue, and he ministered to the other as well, absorbing her shallow breath and the way a faint keen crept from her lips. His warm breath washed over her breasts as he panted, a haze of arousal blanketing him. He wanted to crush her beneath him, a fragile flower whose petals bruised in his hands. He wanted to sheath himself inside of her, tearing her fragile flesh with the force of his maleness, and his desire.

 

One clawed hand cupped her sex, brushed against the shorn hair down there, slipping a finger between her slick folds to slide into her entrance. She was tantalizingly wet, her walls tight and flexible around his finger. He inserted a second digit, and she gasped, her head turning to the side as she caught the fabric of the pillow between her teeth to muffle her noises. Tentatively, her hands rose to stroke at his face, tugging hesitantly at the crimson turtleneck he habitually wore.

 

In a moment, he had removed it, and her hands wandered over his scarred, pale hide, feeling the shape of the muscles beneath it. He let her touch him, focused instead on her soft skin, how yielding and delicate it was. He would leave his own marks on her, now. His mouth fastened over the juncture of her throat and shoulder, lightly sucking at the flesh to leave a love-bite. And again, further up her neck, in a highly visible area. This was his desire.

 

He finally went further down, cupping her buttocks in his large hands and lifting her pelvis up, his mouth pressed against her vulva. He extended his tongue, working it in agonizing detail over her sex, until she was moaning, the pillow forgotten. It would make the act itself easier for her body to handle, he realized. Spot was always more ‘accommodating’ after she had reached orgasm.

 

He bent to his task, press the flat base of his tongue against her clit, and sliding the slick tendril into her entrance. He withdrew and thrust it in repeatedly, stimulating her sweetest spots until her fists clenched in the sheets and she cried out, back arching as waves of pleasure washed through her. He withdrew and paused, his cock painfully hard, throbbing from restraining himself.

 

He undid his belt and unzipped his pants, kicking them off to the side of the bed, now fully undressed. He positioned himself back above Doll, her eyes level with his pectoral muscles due to how small she was. His naked erection brushed against her belly, and she eagerly tilted her hips beneath him, her arms around his neck.

 

**[This will hurt,]** he said suddenly, wondering why he cared enough to say it at all. Sex and pain were always entwined when Voidster was involved, and yet the words left his lips, smooth and emotionless. He felt strange and almost as if he were in a dream. The words might have been a threat, had there been even the slightest inflection in how he said them.

 

“I know,” Doll replied, and there was no fear in her voice. It was soft and trusting, sweat glistening on her face and throat, on her breasts and belly. Her eyes squeezed shut as he fitted himself to her, pressing the tip of his phallus into her wet entrance, jutting his hips forward to breach her folds.

 

 **[Look at me.]** His voice was low and rough with desire, purple irises and catlike pupils focused intently on her face. She forced her eyes open, staring desperately up at him as he pushed further into her slick, prepared walls. He braced an arm behind her back, sliding his clawed fingers up to grasp her skull in a tender, forceful grip. His other arm propped beneath her lower back, tilting her hips downward at a useful angle. She grabbed onto his biceps, groaning as he filled and stretched her, hardly withdrawing in his efforts to hilt.

 

He couldn’t fully sheathe himself, not in such a small woman, and instead he grunted as he pushed against her cervix, withdrawing to strike again at the resounding barrier. His tongue hung partially out of his mouth, saliva pooling onto the pillow above her head as he panted and seethed, tightening his thrusts to short, controlled bursts. It brought tears to her eyes, her blown pupils glistening as she continued to obey his previous command, staring up into his face, fierce and feral and distant as he tested her boundaries.

 

He released her head and instead dug his claws into the mattress, pulling himself into the rocking of his hips. Violet precum slathered through her, further lubricating his way as he sighed and gave in to the blissful feeling of her tightness and pain, while she panted beneath him.

 

His arm beneath her hips turned upward, grabbing onto her and pulling her down into his thrusts. A surprised squeak left her lips, which soon became a keening whine at the intensity of the sensation. Her nails dug into his thick hide, leaving faint indentations but unable to truly breach the surface. Her small breasts rubbed against his torso, sweat soaking their bodies and dripping down onto the sheets. He could smell the salt of it, and his mouth watered.

 

He wanted to dominate her. He wanted to devour her. There was no softness in him now, no gentle affection or restraint. A ragged moan left his lips, his fangs bared down at the girl who continued to watch his face, a pale blur in her teary eyes.

 

Doll could feel her body throbbing, struggling to accommodate him. There was pain, yes, but there was pleasure too. And the Angel, he was finally with her, as he had been with G that night she had seen them. He was sharing that coveted intimacy with her, that brutal bonding that she had thought might only be attainable by the other monster.

 

When he had given her to G, he had broken her heart not a little. That night was little more than hazy memories now, but this, this was gloriously, agonizingly real. She had yearned toward the man with the crimson sweater and the violet eyes, savoring every touch, every glance, every word. Now he was hers and she was his, and she felt in this moment that nothing could ever separate them, could ever threaten the bond of this ritual.

 

These pleasant thoughts drifted through her head as Voidster used her body with hardly a care for her comfort, intent on his pleasure and the domination of this small human he had taken from the surface. He was drawing closer to climax, his thrusts longer, and slower, and more purposeful now. Every buck of his hips sent his length sliding into her tight heat, overstimulated and craving more.

 

A purple hue began to draw under his eyes, an exceptionally uncommon occurrence that had only happened with G, before. Voidster was very nearly sexual energy given physical form; it made sense that erotic stimulation rarely overcame him. But he couldn’t feel the color, and Doll could not see it, her vision hazy with tears. Voidster did not appreciate the significance of this moment, when the sexual high vibrated through his entire body, drowning him in pleasure.

 

Heaving slightly, his eyes shut as his jaws clenched together, his body as tightly wound as a plucked string, ready to bring forth that single, glorious note that signaled the release of his tension, the culmination of his indulgence. He gave a few more lasting thrusts, before his hips pinned themselves to her, spilling his hot, thick essence deep inside of her, until it even began dribbling out, spilling over her thighs and ass as he remained sheathed.

 

He didn’t know if she had climaxed again. Didn’t really care. Until this moment, he had been in control, and now he felt as if those strings had been viciously yanked away by his own libido. This was a point he could never return from, a precipice he had taken them both over, at the whim of his lust. Even as his chest heaved for air above her, and the relaxation of his orgasm sank into his very bones, he felt himself getting angry.

 

He took a few more moments to rest, then pulled from her body, his seed gushing from her as his cock withdrew. Rolling off of her, he staggered to the sink, splashing water on his face and then glancing up into the mirror. A shocked expression rested upon his features as he saw the undersides of his eyes; purple shadows like bruises beneath the glowing violet of his irises. Hesitantly he reached toward his face, then stopped, as a person might stop themselves from touching an injury. He grew irrationally angrier.

 

Wordlessly, he dressed, the silence heavy with his rage, and Doll’s sudden realization of it. She was shivering, lying on her side, watching him. He should bathe her, put on fresh sheets- but he couldn’t bear to be in the room more than a second longer than necessary. Avoiding her hurt gaze, the stare of a wounded animal, he stumbled from the room, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him. He had almost not bothered repairing that damned lock, but now he was glad that he had. She would stay down here, where she belonged.

 

He meant to avoid his mate, but G had long since finished with Spot, and was waiting for him in the kitchen, a glass of scotch in his clawed hand. Voidster turned away, intending to hide his face and his shame, but G was faster, rising and gripping the back of his turtleneck, then grabbing his arm and turning him around. His other hand gripped Voidster painfully under the jaw, tilting his face under the light. Voidster snarled at the assault, but was paid no heed.

 

Several moments passed before the lich spoke. “I see,” he finally said, his voice completely neutral. Voidster watched him warily.

 

**[What will you do?]**

 

G sipped at his scotch, thoughtfully eyeing his mate. “The question, my dear, is what will  _ you  _ do. She is your burden to bear. Not mine.”

 

**[I should kill her,]** Voidster suddenly snapped, glaring angrily at G.  **[Is that what you want to hear? You were right, I was too attached. How I loathe humans.]**

 

G laughed a little, bitterly. He eyed the remains of his scotch, then shrugged and downed the rest. “Kill her, keep her...I don’t care. Now that you know the extent of your attachment to her, I’m curious to see what you will do. You didn’t ask for my advice, but here it is: do not act rashly. Sleep, and think of what you truly want. Don’t make a decision you’ll regret later.”

 

**[You would know about the pain of regret, better than I.]** Voidster watched him, but the lich simply shrugged, not rising to the bait. He knew that Voidster was angry and wanted a brawl, but he was satisfied, and ready to sleep. Voidster would come to bed, or not, and in a few days, things would be back to normal. He wouldn’t fight his mate, not tonight.

 

**[I’ll think about it,]** the other man finally grumbled reluctantly, clearly annoyed that the lich was not indulging his temper.

 

G rewarded him with some gentle petting, which softened the harsh glare on Voidster’s face to simply a brooding expression. Voidster wasn’t good with emotions, had never been good with them. He understood them, in a sense, but not nearly as well as he thought. It really didn’t surprise G that finding how attached he was to Doll had disturbed his mate. 

 

Voidster had sought out G because he was strong, because he wanted a mate who was strong. He might never reconcile his fascination with and revulsion for soft, weak humans. Such strong, conflicting emotions would disturb even a more grounded individual, let alone one who tended to solve all of his problems with violence.

 

The violet hue under Voidster’s eyes would fade by tomorrow, G was sure of that. He felt no jealousy, only a passing sort of surprise that Voidster had really cared for a human that much, and that his lust had finally overcome his caution.

 

Doll was a mystery to him, as she was to them all. Voidster understood her, understood broken things, better than the rest of them. But he still had not fully realized her impact on him, nor the way she had drawn him in, intriguing and captivating him with her guilelessness. He wondered if by the end of this, his mate would not have cause to regret stepping into that hospital room and finding this damaged girl.

 

He was distracted from these thoughts by a gentle nudge against his temple, and realized that Voidster was calmer now, and trying to lead him away to their bedroom to sleep. Blearily he waved off the other male, and followed him back. What was done was done. Tomorrow would bring the clarity needed to decide what would be done with the human known as Doll.


	14. Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _And I listen for the whisper  
>  Of your sweet insanity while I formulate  
> Denials of your effect on me _

Voidster slept restlessly, more than usual. He remained in bed for far longer than he usually did, as well. He even waited for the lich to wake, arms propped behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. G woke to a soft sigh, his arm hooked around Voidster’s chest, his head against his ribs. In the predawn light, he couldn’t really see the purple shadows he knew were under his mate’s eyes.

 

He shifted slightly, and that was all it took for the glowing, violet eyes to drop toward his face. The gaze of his mate was neutral and distracted, tired even. G wondered what dreams or nightmares had kept the other man awake. He supposed he had a fair enough idea. Voidster removed an arm from behind his head, ducking his hand down to lace fingers with the lich. G propped himself up, his head resting on Voidster’s shoulder as he began to speak.

 

**[I’m putting her in your hospital. It has a psychiatric ward, does it not?]**

 

G took his time responding, idly watching the shadows lengthen as the sun began to rise. “It has a psychiatric ward...does she have the funds to stay there, indefinitely?” When Voidster growled low in his chest, the lich persisted. “It’s not a charity. We live from the profits of that hospital. Something that could hardly be achieved if we gave medical care to everyone for free, especially with such a high maintenance creature as yourself. The amount I spend on crimson turtlenecks alone could pay for such a patient, at the rate which you destroy them.”

 

Voidster was silent, but his claws dug into G’s hand with his ire.  **[At the rate which you charge humans and monsters for treatment, you can afford this one addition.]**

 

“I can,” G hummed in agreement, watching his mate’s face. “But there is a price, for you.”

 

**[What?]** Voidster’s temper was short; the word was bitten off harshly, and a scowl began to drawn between his eyebrows.

 

“No more pets. You can’t collect human girls like trinkets. We have one already. This one can stay in the hospital. But if you bring home a third, I’ll evict her myself. You are my mate. You do not need a harem.”

 

Silence. Voidster contemplated G’s terms as if he had a choice, the lich thought with amusement. Interesting, that his hospital was Voidster’s choice for Doll. Far enough away that he no longer saw her, near enough that if he  _ wanted  _ to see her, he could without effort. But G didn’t think he would. G was the only person in the universe that Voidster trusted, without reserve. Him giving Doll into the care of G’s hospital was an act of trust, in a way.  _ Keep this safe,  _ he was saying, by doing this.  _ Keep  _ **_her_ ** _ safe. She matters. _

 

**[Fine,]** Voidster said, his hand relaxing once more as he agreed, with more grace than G would have expected. Perhaps this latest adventure had made him rethink toying with strange humans. He hoped so. 

 

Sighing again, Voidster thrashed onto his side, tugging the lich against his body with little more than a token protest on G’s part. He tucked G’s hips against his groin, wrapping an arm around his chest and running a finger over his protruding collarbone. Something in his manner was tender, but almost desperate.  _ Love me. Help me forget. _

 

His fingers lifted from the lich’s collarbone to his throat, wrapping around it. G felt Voidster’s breath against his cheek, hot and humid. He didn’t struggle, letting his mate hold him submissive like this while Voidster’s other hand turned to G’s boxers, dragging them down and off of his body. His clawed digits then returned, stroking the lich’s half-mast cock to a full erection.

 

G laughed a little, the tendons in his throat straining as he said, “Thanking me for letting your pet stay in the hospital, or trying to forget?” The hand tightened around his throat, and Voidster said nothing in response, bending his head to sink his fangs into G’s shoulder. The lich shuddered under his bite, turning his head away as his shaft became painfully hard.

 

He heard the sound of fumbling behind him, a zipper, and then the hot flesh of Voidster’s arousal pressed against his buttocks. Another pause, and the shaft behind him was slick with saliva, sliding up against his flesh. G grunted as he was penetrated, Voidster’s grip on his throat pressing him down onto the cock that impaled him. His mate’s other hand released his own manhood, gripping G’s instead as he began working the male in his hand.

 

Their legs entwined, claws snagging on the expensive satin sheets that tangled around their bodies. Voidster released his bite on G’s shoulder, running his tongue over his fangs to taste the toxic, oily blood that dripped from them. A shudder wound its way down his spine, and he bent to tenderly lap at the wound he had left on his mate. More blood filled his mouth, and he swallowed it fervently, savoring the burn of G’s magic against his gums.

 

G was panting like a stressed animal, but his manhood throbbed with desire in Voidster’s hand. He rubbed his thumb over the head of the lich’s shaft, coating it with drops of black precum. The substance nipped at his fingers and palm, but he bore the discomfort, driving his hips up into G’s rear with a sudden buck. The lich gasped and writhed, but he was well ensnared in Voidster’s grasp.

 

He had spent the worst of his intensity on Doll, and this coupling was almost gentle by comparison. Ironic, considering how much better equipped G was to handle his more violent passions. Voidster edged them both upward with languid thrusts, matching his rhythm with his hand on G’s cock. He maintained his grip on the lich’s throat as well, knowing that the tantalizing choke only further spurred G’s passions. Over time he had come to care more for his mate’s enjoyment during sex, instead of just his own. Voidster knew that by most standards he was still considered a selfish being, but at least in this, he could share the pleasure he felt, sheathed inside his lover. More importantly, it helped distract him from the growing pain he felt in his soul.

 

Snarling, he increased his pace, shutting his eyes against the memories of the previous night. It meant nothing. Doll meant  _ nothing.  _ It was just an infatuation, just a temporary lapse of judgment. Once she was in the hospital, things would go back to normal. Just himself, G, and Spot. As it should be. He could rest easy knowing that Doll was in the best hospital he knew of, not that it mattered. That white stoat that worked for G would be a perfect caretaker for the fragile, broken woman. Voidster would go himself and ensure that she knew where her priorities should lie. Doll might be insignificant to  _ him,  _ but she was still more important than the other patients.

 

His hips continued his vicious rhythm on their own, as if he had not just been miles away in his own head, and he felt himself drawing nearer completion. G was wheezing against the hand at his throat, and Voidster loosened his grip slightly, allowing the lich enough air to remain conscious. It was not long before G stiffened and groaned, his seed spilling over Voidster’s hand and onto the sheets. Voidster gave a few more lasting thrusts before succumbing himself, releasing ropes of his essence deep within his mate with a faint, breathless moan.

 

They lay still for some time, heaving and panting, bodies slick with sweat as their passions faded. G winced when Voidster withdrew from his body, then stepped to the bathroom. Moments later, he heard the shower turn on. Unusual. Voidster rarely showered of his own volition, preferring to wait until G forced him to do so. Sighing, G sat up, sore and filthy. He would join his mate in the shower and share, perhaps, a gentler affection. It might serve to help keep Voidster balanced, on what was sure to be a difficult and painful day.

 

Voidster might be in denial over Doll’s effect on him, but G was not. He knew the feeling too intimately to ignore the signs in the other man. He wondered if Voidster would be able to bring himself to explain what was happening to Doll, or whether he would simply dress her and bring her to the hospital without a word. He would have to write a letter to Claire, explaining this odd situation. G would have gone with Voidster himself, but he preferred to avoid the old places that reminded him of Sun. And Voidster didn’t need an escort, he sensed. For once, he was actually taking something seriously. He would restrain himself for Doll’s sake, if nothing else.

 

With a light sigh, the lich stood, then slowly made his way to the bathroom. There he joined his mate, the two of them luxuriating in the hot water, before the day truly began.

  
  
***

 

I was awake for some hours after he left. I was sore and filthy, but could not bring myself to move from the cold, stained sheets. I wasn’t sure what had happened, for my Angel had been so angry, after he made love to me.

 

I remembered bliss and pain, intertwined as light and shadow, or blood and flesh. Inseparable. He had driven into me like a beast; gentler than the lich had been, but somehow more...intense. I felt him losing himself in me, as I lost myself in him, reaching out to touch his soul, to embrace and cherish it. But he refused. Jealous of his pride, he took his heart and hid it from me; protecting it. Surely he knew I did not mean harm. Surely he did not fear me? I knew I had violence in me, but such a time as this was no time for violence, save the violence of lovemaking.

 

It was everything I had craved, but lessened by this emotional withdrawal. The tenderness I had seen him capable of, was not to be mine. How terrible and lonely our coupling had been, despite my body’s response to his. So empty. So cold. None of the warm passion he shared with G was forthcoming. Instead I was transformed into a stranger. I was no longer his ‘Doll.’ I was simply a body beneath him, an empty shell, waiting to be filled.

 

The light flickered, and the shadows beckoned, threatening to creep under my eyes and drag me down against my will. Still I did not sleep, clutching the scraps of my hospital gown to my body, staring at the wall. It was not quite warm in my room, and my naked skin absorbed the chill with ease, taking in the cold as I had taken it into my heart. It was not stubbornness alone that resolved me against sleep.

 

Eventually, against my will, sleep claimed me. I fell into a fitful slumber, woken by small noises, or the cries of the other humans he kept down here. I wondered if he lay with them as he had with me. Pain blossomed in my heart at the thought, but I crushed it before it could spread. It didn’t matter.

 

It was in the middle of a half-dream that he woke me, startling me enough that I cried out and shoved blindly at him. He was immovable, as always, and I felt a stirring guilt that I had lashed out at him, of all people. “Angel,” I mumbled, my tongue thick and my face tender from crying. He glanced at me impassively, then gathered me into his arms. I can’t say why, but I found myself absorbing the experience, memorizing it, as if I might never feel his arms around me again.

 

He brought me to the bathroom, and washed me in the shower. His hands were impersonal, touching me only to clean me, then drying me off with a newly folded white towel. I no longer bled from my head wound when he dried my hair. Silently, he discarded the torn hospital gown, then led me back to my room by the hand. As I watched, he stripped the sullied linens, replacing them with fresh bedding. He then presented me with two pieces of fruit, and a cup to take water from the sink in my room. I wanted to go upstairs, to see that woman and eat breakfast with her, but it seemed this was not to be.

 

**[Doll,]** he began haltingly, not looking at me,  **[I have something to tell you.]**

 

I waited patiently, but he did not continue. He glanced at me, then sighed and took a seat in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees, and holding his head in his hands. He looked terribly distressed, and I was moved to comfort him, despite my own fears. I walked carefully over to his seated figure, and pressed a gentle hand against the side of his face. He startled at my touch, then gained control of himself. He seemed about to pull away, but changed his mind, and leaned into my touch.

 

“What is wrong?” I finally asked, when no further words were forthcoming. He sighed heavily, a burdened sound if ever I had heard one.

 

**[Nothing, it’s...nothing.]** Nothing. Nothing brought me nightmares, Nothing made up most of my life history. A terrible emptiness that could never be filled, a blank page that would never be written upon. His tone indicated that he meant the words to be reassuring, but Nothing was far from comforting. Perhaps all I dreaded more than Nothing, was Something. The memories that hurt too much to bear, the worm inside my soul, devouring everything good and kind about me.

 

I removed my hand and wobbled back to my bed, sitting on the fresh sheets, losing myself in a spiral of dark Nothingness, with shards of Something scattered like glass, or painfully burning stars in the sky. I did not realize I had curled onto my side and closed my eyes, until he shook me, his voice rough and unsteady.

 

**[Get up. Eat the food I brought.]**

 

I got up. I took a pear in my hand and looked questioningly up at him. He nodded, a brooding look on his face as he silently encouraged me to eat. Feeling queasy, I did my best to eat both the pear and the apple he had brought. My attempts satisfied him, for he took the tray from me, leaving me with the cup for water.

 

**[I will return later.]**

 

The way he said it sounded painful, as if the last thing he wanted to do was return. It hurt to hear, and I turned away. The door clicked open, and then shut, the lock sliding into place afterward. It was more painful than I had realized to be locked down here after experiencing freedom. In a way, I had come to think of them all as my family. Voidster, my Angel. G, the angry monster. Spot, the sad woman. They were as close as I had had in so many years…

 

If this was a punishment, it was the cruelest one I had ever known. I would have rather had the beatings, the isolation, the withholding of food I had experienced at the hospital. All I wanted was to be by his side, to hear his voice and smell the spicy, masculine scent of him. I wanted him to touch me, to caress me, to stroke my hair as he had before. I shivered with loss and regret. I should have savored those moments more, should have memorized them as best my muddled brain could manage. At least then I would have some sliver, some token of remembrance.

 

Lying back down on my side, I tugged the blanket over my body, and began to weep.

**Author's Note:**

> Voidster and Spot are original characters from my other stories. G belongs to AllocateAloe and is from her stories. This one is Doll's story.


End file.
